One of the notable trends in the retail shopping environment is the proliferation of warehouse-style, "big box" merchandisers. No longer do people shop at local retail outlets, but instead shop at large retail outlets such as Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco, and Sam's Club that are springing up across America.
The common trait of the design of many of these retail outlets is that retail showrooms often have cavernous ceilings, sometimes as high as 30 feet. In many of these big box retailers, merchandise awaiting sale is not stored in back rooms, but on the tops of the display racks. Many of these stores are primarily "self-service" for the customers, meaning that the customer is expected to remove the items they desire to purchase. This is an economical business model for many of these retailers. Unfortunately, this model at times sacrifices the safety of the customers who patronize these stores.
Many of these large retailers have been plagued by injuries resulting from patrons being struck by merchandise falling from the display racks. These injuries come from:
Falling merchandise that was not stored properly by sales staff;
Falling merchandise that that was returned to the rack by customers;
Customers pulling merchandise off the racks without assistance from the sale staff.
Big box retailers are well aware of the safety issues brought about by falling merchandise but have made a conscious choice to continue doing business as usual. Aggressive, qualified attorneys can obtain evidence of other similar incidents which can show the retailers notice of the dangerous business practice and their decision to continue to do business in a way which places the safety of customers at risk.
