'Have we just become slobs?': Video captures mess at Rebel Sport Botany during Easter sales

A former broadcaster has shared a shocking video of the aftermath of Easter retail sales at a Rebel Sport store in Botany, Auckland.

Mark Dye, who previously worked for Newstalk ZB, posted the video to Facebook showing clothing, hangers, hats and shoes littered on the floor of the sports store.

"I was honestly shocked at the state of Rebel Sport today," Dye wrote in the post. "And the shoe section was worse? Not enough staff on, or have we just become slobs...?

When contacted by the Herald, Briscoe Group chief executive Rod Duke said the Rebel Sport store had a "record" trading day on Sunday - the same day the video was filmed, but said the mess was not acceptable.

"Number one there is no excuse for poor house-keeping. In the store's defence, they had an absolutely spectacular day - one right out of the bag, which was just manic; it was crazy in terms of people everywhere - it was massive," Duke said.

"Some shoppers are very tidy, and some are not. One thing I can tell you is our staff didn't put the stuff on the floor."

The mess could be put down to the store being "over-shopped rather than under-staffed", he said.

Rebel Sport had sales of up to 50 per cent off its stock including on its cricket gear, and 20 per cent off clothing over the long weekend.

Briscoe Group owns Rebel Sport, Living & Giving and Briscoes.

Social media user Amanda Croft responded to Dye's post, which has since received close to 3,000 views, and said the video was "representative of how many people live their lives".

"The state of 'discount' stores like The Warehouse, No.1. Shoes, Briscoes, KMart etc is the same no matter where you go," Croft wrote.

"People have just become inherently lazy and apathetic. 'Why should I take the extra few seconds to put something away or pick something up off the floor when I can leave it for someone else to do?' The most disappointing thing is that it's not just the younger generation, it's any age, any background."

Greg Harford, general manager of public affairs for Retail NZ, said messy shoppers were becoming an issue for many retailers.

"Stores can get really busy at peak periods and retailers, especially in larger-format stores, often have to tidy displays and re-stack products," Harford said.

When one customer dumps a pile of clothes after trying them on, others follow.

"This has been an issue for a number of years, but it has become more noticeable as we have embraced larger format stores; the bigger a store, and the more product that's accessible to customers, the easier it is for a mess to be created – especially at really busy times when the stores are full of customers."

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said retailers had adapted their operations to maintain costs within large stores, meaning focus was less about presentation and more about productivity.

"Staff instead are focused on customer enquiries and service duties, additional transaction support and security," Wilkinson said.

"This is why we're seeing more of the unruly situations that have surfaced. When one customer dumps a pile of clothes after trying them on, others follow.

"It's not ideal and certainly not how the brands want to be seen, however, it does reflect in many cases, both cost control necessary to deliver and sustain these low prices - but also the challenges in staffing - particularly over the extended opening hours and during holiday periods."