I like the idea of promotion at the storefront to increase awareness and visibility, such as the food court stands at the mall that have an employee offering free samples. That is smart promotion.

What KB Toys did this morning was not smart. They placed an employee in a SpongeBob suit at the front of the store waving at the crowd, along with a handler doing double-duty of giving out the newspaper flyer with promotional information.

This overarching issue was that they were not necessary. It was Black Friday morning, which means dedicated shoppers working things off their lists, including toys. These shoppers did not need to be cultivated. They were coming for the toys, they just needed to get in.

SpongeBob and the handler were standing directly in the threshold to the store, cutting off half the entryway. The foot traffic was forced to merge into two narrow lanes on either side of them, creating large backups of people trying to both enter and exit the store.