Police called as crowd flocks to Chinese discount shop in Melbourne

Large crowds have overwhelmed a new discount store in Melbourne.

Police were forced to step in when angry customers swamped the Panda Mart warehouse after waiting in line for hours.

The discount retailer has been open for a few days in Cranbourne, in the city's south-east, but hundreds of people are still lining up all the way around the warehouse, trying to get inside.

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The wait got ugly yesterday afternoon when customers ran out of patience.

Groups of people were filmed trying to force their way into the store, some pushing against the glass doors and scrambling past staff to get inside.

As the crowd reached about 1000, police were called in to keep the peace.

Management were left with no option but to shut the doors and reopen this morning with security staff.

"I thought the doors were going to fall through, you know. It was crazy," staff member Jordan Alkemade said.

"But now with security and especially when we had police here yesterday, it's all good, it's all safe."

Panda Mart opened its first store in South Africa more than a decade ago.

They have locations in South America, the US and New Zealand.

They arrived on Australian shores with a discounted catalogue of more than 28,000 homeware products, many of them reportedly sourced from China's wholesale markets.

One shopper said it was like cheap internet shop Tumu "in real life", with social media users on TikTok also getting excited about the shop.