What Protests? Walmart Has Biggest-Ever Black Friday

So, how 'bout them Walmart protests? Apparently the demonstrations had little impact on the company's business, because according to the Sacramento Bee, Walmart has reported its best-ever Black Friday and says it served 22 million customers yesterday alone. Among the astounding numbers: Since last night, Walmart has sold 1.3 million TVs and 1.8 million ... towels? Yes, towels. The company's president and CEO says just 26 store protests took place, and "many of them did not include any Walmart associates."

He estimates less than 50 actual Walmart workers took part. The Atlantic Wire doesn't see how that could possibly be correct, but thinks the group organizing the protests is probably exaggerating, too—it claims strikes in 100 cities, 1,000 protests, and "hundreds and hundreds" walking off the job. Reuters reports that at one Chicago Walmart, just one single employee out of 500 took part, but four busloads of protesters eventually joined him. A protest at a California Walmart was particularly big, with 1,000 people taking part; nine of them were arrested peacefully after refusing to disperse, the Los Angeles Times reports. (More Walmart stories.)