Kmart shoppers called out over appalling state of store: 'Have become uncontrollable'

Kmart shoppers have expressed their disappointment and anger at the state of one of its stores in Sydney. In a post uploaded to a community group, a patron shared a photo of an aisle inside the Casula location, showing toys strewn everywhere and the shelves in complete disarray.

"What hope do we have for a clean city, if this is how people treat 1 aisle at Kmart, Casula. Let's do better Liverpool," the person captioned the post.

More than 100 comments quickly flooded the update with many saying that kids nowadays lack respect and basic etiquette, with several people saying that parents are to blame.

"The problem is these days children (including teenagers) believe that they have no responsibility," one person wrote in response. "There is no discipline, no manners, no respect and it's only getting worse."

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"Kids back in the day were taught not to touch," another said. "This is showing how much kids are allowed to do whatever they want. Where is the discipline? When they become uncontrollable they blame it on the kids. Parents are to blame here."

"Why do parents let them get away with that? If my kid dropped something on the floor, I'd be there right beside them telling them to pick it up," another person added while someone else said, "If I did that (not that I would), my parents would send me into next week and make me clean it up."

Other problems that come from messy aisles

As the debate continued, one commenter shed light on a knock-on problem that can come from these sorts of incidents.

"Maybe we need to limit the toys displayed and put pictures out," they said. "I’ve worked in The toy section before at ……… and it’s chaos on the best of days. Some parents then buy the dirty messed up toys at a cheaper price. The store manager needs to mark them down because they are no longer worth the price marked."

Remarked another, "Poor staff who have to always clean up the mess."

Other people were quick to point out that the issues are not just contained to the kids' sections in big retailers with one person weighing in, "And sometimes it's not just the kids, I always go into Kmart and the shocking piles of jeans and tights on the shelf are just everywhere you can't find the sizes, the same with the pjs section it's just everywhere it's not the kids doing it.grrrrrrrrr they just don't care."

"It is appalling how the finger is pointed at Kmart and how quickly the public is able to judge," someone else added to the conversation. "It is disgraceful how everyday customers let the kids run amok, while the adults do their shopping, the kids are left to play with and displace products besides break them open and then just leave like it's nothing."

Kmart previously called out for mess and dirt

It's not the first time that Kmart has been called out for having aisles that were less than pristine.

Last year an Aussie shopper stumbled upon visibly dirty baby products at a Kmart store in Victoria. The incident gained viral attention when the shopper, dismayed by her discovery, captured the scene in a TikTok. In the footage, pink silicone sippy cups, baby bowls and bibs can be seen covered in dirt and grime.

One former employee commented, "I used to work at Kmart and when unboxing the merchandise it's dirty — sadly it happens — things get dirty during shipping, even the clothes arrive with marks on them."

Another Kmart worker agreed, "I can confirm it comes so dusty, my clothes are gross after working the back dock."

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In another viral video, this time from a store in Queensland, a shopper said she was "shocked and appalled" by the state she found the place in.

The video, which had comments disabled, clearly shows shelves of arts and crafts supplies haphazardly strewn about, with some items thrown on the floor.

The problem is not just a Kmart one, however, as every shopper has an innate responsibility to treat their surroundings with respect and to leave them in acceptable state for their fellow customers.

As one person commented on the original post about the Casula store, "It’s not a thing about parents and kids. Other parts of this store and other stores can look like this. Collectively everyone needs to do better."

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