Shoppers filmed in Big W altercation over baby formula
Two men have been filmed nearly coming to blows over baby formula in a Melbourne Big W store over the Easter weekend.
One of the men, wearing a mask, holds two tins of baby formula while lined up for the checkout at the store in Lilydale, in the city’s northeast.
An older man reportedly took issue with the couple trying to exceed the purchase limit of baby formula, according to an onlooker who filmed the incident.
The older customer tell the man to “put it back”.
“What if I don’t? What are you going to do?” the shopper replies.
“I’ll take you outside,” the older man says, while facing off with the man holding the baby formula.
They step closer to each other and the situation grows more tense as they yell at one another.
“Put it back,” the older man says again.
A woman then comes between the pair and the younger man tosses the two tins in a trolley preparing to fight.
He’s pulled back by a woman in his company as he tries to confront the older man again. He’s repeatedly pulled back as another shopper steps in.
A staff member then intervenes and tells him to leave. “You’re not allowed to buy the formula and that’s it,” she says.
It’s not clear if he’s being prevented from buying the formula due to the fracas but a woman who posted the video on Facebook claims he had been in the store earlier and purchased four tins.
“After being told they had been in already and bought 4 tins ... they still had the nerve to fight for the 4 tins,” she wrote alongside a video of the incident posted to Facebook on Saturday.
Woolworths, which owns Big W, has a two-tin limit on purchasing tins of baby formula to prevent people bulk buying the item for re-sale online, typically to to Chinese buyers.
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A Big W spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia in a statement the store has had a two-tin limit in place for more than 12 months.
“The customers had a disagreement and then were asked to leave our BIG W Lilydale store by a store team member and centre security, police involvement was not required,” the spokesperson said.
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