IT was 'shoemaggedon' in one Cumbrian village over the weekend, as people took to a skip full of trainers from the former New Balance store in Shap to try and nab a pair of the much-loved trainers.
Hundred of pairs of the sought after trainers could be seen scattering a street in the town after the shop closed and surplus stock was seemingly thrown in a skip outside of the former store.
The store on Market Square in Shap has been recently closed, with the stock understood to have been placed in a skip following the closure.
Penrith town councillor, Jonathan Davies, was contacted by residents in Shap on Sunday morning and went up to the former store.
It is understood that people had first been seen looking through the skip full of shoes on Saturday evening, March 4, however things had began to escalate to a situation were shoes were littering the street on Sunday morning with people looking for a pair of trainers.
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Jonathan Davies said: "It was like something from a horror movie. There was shoes everywhere... Shoemageddon.
Shoe mageddon in Shap https://t.co/sdW86TmVWF
— Jonathan Davies (@disruptordavies) March 5, 2023
"I understand that the shop has had to be closed.
"Residents have been in rummaging trying to find some pairs.
"I was quite shocked that New Balance has just thrown them all out when Shap has a charity shop for example.
"It was heartbreaking, just to see it scattered across the way. Yes people have been in, fair enough, looking for a pair of trainers, but to have thrown the shoes everywhere and the cardboard across the street was disgusting. It impacted on the local community."
Mr Davies said that there was hundreds of shoes across the road, but potentially thousands inside the skip.
He said he saw people inside the skip whilst there opening boxes of shoes inside of the skip looking for a pair.
The shop was understood to have been closed temporarily just before Christmas, but it was announced in the last few weeks that the shop would not be reopening.
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