TROY, Mich. – The Swatch store at Somerset Collection will remain closed on Sunday, Local 4 has learned. It comes after a product release event was canceled early Saturday morning because of large crowds and safety concerns.
Troy police now tell Local 4 that three people were arrested on Saturday morning after refusing to leave the area. They were taken to the police department and released with orders to appear in court.
Recommended Videos
“If they let the doors open, I guarantee you somebody was going to get trampled and it wasn’t going to end well,” Tommy, with Tru Sneaks said.
Tommy is a personal shopper. He captured the chaos on video when he got to the mall around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday in hopes of getting one of the Audemars Piguet and Swatch collaboration pocket watches.
It was set to be released Saturday and Tommy says there was a limited number available.
“Yelling. Pushing. People trying to get through,” he said. “People were playing hard ball. I had to box some people out because people were trying to push through.”
Swatch released a statement on their Instagram asking people not to rush stores and saying the collection will be available for multiple months. They also say queues of more than 50 people may not be accepted in some countries.
Troy police say they first got the call from mall security this morning around 3:30 a.m.
“We responded. Ultimately, that crowd was disbursed and told that nobody was going to be allowed on the property until 6 a.m.” Sgt. Nicholas Barrett, with the Troy Police Department, said.
When 6 a.m. rolled around, the crowd came back.
“Forming mobs. Pounding on the entrances of the Somerset Collection demanding to be let in,” Barrett said.
Police say that due to the size of the crowds and safety concerns, the Swatch store made the decision to cancel the release.
“There were three arrests that were made of individuals who refused to leave the property after being instructed to do so,” Barrett said. “Those individuals have been taken here to our police department, processed, and released with notices to appear in court.”
“This one was probably one of the bigger ones that I’ve been to. People were coming all across Michigan for this and some people were from Ohio and surrounding states,” Tommy said.
There’s no official word on when the release will happen. Police say Somerset and Swatch will decide.