'Despicable' mess at The Warehouse Gisborne left by Rhythm and Vines crowd

A "despicable" mess left by Rhythm and Vines festivalgoers after they stormed through The Warehouse shoe section is an annual occurrence, a local says.

Gisborne man Dean Cameron posted footage on Facebook showing staff busily tidying up the piles of shoes strewn up and down the aisles after shoppers came through.

"It's just an absolute pigsty," Cameron told the Herald.

"I took my girl to get her some shoes and stuff, and yeah, I just took a look at those aisles and it made me angry."

There were "hundreds and literally hundreds" of shoes "ripped off shelves and left on the floor".

Cameron spoke to staff at the store and said they told him "they spend money here".

It's not the first time parts of the city have been left a mess after the festival. Cameron said every year the city was left in a state, with bottles and rubbish spread around the streets.

He never saw messes to such an extent except for when Rhythm and Vines came to town.

"I've never been anywhere out of town and seen stores in that state, you know, even over Christmas. It's only when they come here.

"They might spend money here but they don't have to cause havoc to do it. It's chaos money.

"They think just because they bring money here and spend, they can pretty much treat Gisborne people like that, you know?"

Cameron said he felt bad for the staff who had to clean up after the shoppers, but a Warehouse spokeswoman said it was "business as usual" for the store.

The spokeswoman said it was common for stores around the country to have big messes to clean up and it was "just pretty standard".

"We call it recovery. Every store has team members who spend part of their day just tidying up aisles."

Assistant manager at The Warehouse in Gisborne Tracy Crago said in the 10 years she had been working at the store she had "never had a single issue" with customers from Rhythm and Vines.

She said the crowds would come in, shop up a whirlwind, and leave again, and they were "always good fun and polite".

Retail NZ spokesman Greg Harford said it was not uncommon for stores to get into such a state around the holiday period.

"Stores can get really busy over the summer period and retailers, especially in large-format stores, have to tidy displays and restack products.

"Retail employees certainly appreciate it when customers try to keep the shelves tidy, treat products with care, and put things back when they have finished looking at them."