Altercations broke out at Chinese Starbucks shops between desperate shoppers who had been waiting hours to purchase a limited edition cat paw mug, with at least one person allegedly sleeping in a tent to be the first person to buy the coveted collector’s item.
One viral video shows a man and a woman in a Starbucks located in the Shaanxi Province, central China, getting into a fist fight as they push each other out of the way to get to the counter.
The argument lasted for two minutes and was eventually put to an end by staff members who intervened. Since then, several other videos have surfaced online showing similar fights.
The adorable six-ounce, double-glass mug with an interior shaped like a cat’s paw was recently released by Chinese Starbucks and originally priced at 199 yuan ($30). The item belongs to the “SAKURA promotion” range, which includes other cherry blossom-themed products.
However, shortly after these mugs sold out in Starbucks shops, they began appearing on other platforms such as eBay and Chinese e-commerce website, Taobao for as much as five times the original cost — 999 yuan ($150).
Starbucks China has announced on their Weibo account that these popular mugs will be available to purchase online between February 28th and March 3rd with a cap of 1,000 mugs for sale, per day.
If you’re looking to purchase one of these mugs for yourself immediately, you’re in luck. There are several cat paw mugs and other items from the SAKURA promotion collection still available on eBay; however, it won’t be cheap as most of the cat paw mugs seem to be priced over $100.
