Photos by Dennis Dean.
“Welcome to Disneyland,” a sales associate joked, as a steady and constant stream of people made its way through several rows of zig-zagging cattle gates into the front doors of Walmart in downtown Long Beach this afternoon.
The store, slated to close January 28, has marked nearly its entire inventory down 50 percent as it liquidates its remaining stock, drawing huge crowds of bargain hunters.
Inside the store, the atmosphere was less “Happiest Place” and more “Last Black Friday on Earth.” Shoppers scoured picked-over shelves for deals on toys, electronics and home goods, while those with their carts—plural—already full waited in lines that stretched into the back of the store.
“This is going to be better than Christmas,” a woman ringing up three children’s bicycles, a cart full of housewares, and a rolling pallet stacked high with miscellaneous toys remarked to a cashier.
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