Massachusetts Man Uses Restroom at Target. Then He Comes Out, Sees the Store Has Closed: ‘I Can’t Get Out’

Very few of us will ever get to see the inside of a closed big-box store. But that’s exactly what TikTok creator Xavier Hardin (@xavierhardinn) experienced at a Massachusetts Target, though not exactly voluntarily.

In a recent TikTok video that got over 1.6 million views, Hardin films an empty Target store with the lights still on. As he wanders around, he says he’s stuck.

“I took a [expletive] inside Target, and now they’re closed, and I can’t get out,” he says.

“What the [expletive]? This is crazy,” he continues. “It’s like completely [expletive] closed.”

How Did He Get Locked Inside Target?

In a follow-up video, Hardin shares more details about how he ended up inside the store after closing.

First, he clears up some confusion from viewers.

“I don’t work at Target,” he says.

Hardin explains that he had been working in the parking lot and went inside about 10 minutes before the store closed. Before heading to the restroom, he says he asked a manager if he could use it.

“They were all getting ready to leave,” he says. “So I figured they would wait, like, the manager would wait for me or something.”

However, when Hardin came out of the bathroom, everyone was gone.

“There was nobody there, nobody inside,” he says. “And I was inside when I noticed I was locked in.”

Rather than wander around the store, Hardin says he mostly stayed near the front and tried to figure out how to leave.

Eventually, after about 40 minutes, security came to help him.

“They saw me on the cameras and they opened the front door for me,” he says.

Viewers Were Entertained

Some viewers thought Hardin should have made the most of his unexpected time alone inside Target.

“Would of blew me up an air mattress got me some snacks and called it a night in the electronic department,” one commenter wrote.

Another had a more direct escape plan. “Just fill up your cart and use the emergency exit,” they wrote.

A third viewer thought someone on the closing team was probably going to hear about the mistake. “Whoever closed is about to be in big trouble lmao,” they wrote.

This Has Happened To Shoppers Before

Hardin isn’t the first shopper to accidentally get locked inside a store after closing.

In a 2018 case, 79-year-old Larry Todd entered a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Fort Mill, South Carolina, about half an hour before its midnight closing to buy dog food. While he was shopping near the back of the store, employees apparently left and locked the doors.

Todd didn’t have his phone with him, so he remained stuck inside for more than an hour. Eventually, a motion alarm alerted Walmart security, and police arrived. Officers initially had to determine whether he had broken into the store, but Walmart ultimately didn’t pursue charges, and a manager let him out.

Another example happened in 2017, when Christian Hathaway found herself in a similar situation at a CVS in St. Cloud, Florida.

Hathaway was shopping around 9 p.m. and went to the register to pay, only to find nobody there. Soon after, she noticed the security doors coming down and realized employees had left her alone inside the store.

She called 911, but even the responding officer couldn’t open the metal security doors. Eventually, a manager arrived about 40 minutes later and let her out.

@xavierhardinn

They forgot I was in the bathroom ?

♬ original sound – Xavier Hardin

The Mary Sue has reached out to Target via email and Hardin via TikTok messages for comment.

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