WATCH: Heatwave fist-fights break out in Lidl in France over fans and air-con units, could Spain be next?

Lidl shoppers have been filmed fighting over fans and air conditioning units in France, raising the question of whether Spain could see the same rush as another blast of extreme heat approaches. The supermarket chain had put around 200,000 cooling products on sale, but crowds quickly stripped shelves, forced entrances and left some customers empty handed.

Lidl cooling product sales descends into chaos

Lidl announced on Thursday that around 200,000 fans and air conditioning units would go on sale across its French stores, with portable units promoted at as little as €179, a fraction of the €1,200 an air conditioner typically costs elsewhere in France, according to The Guardian.

Customers began queuing outside some stores before sunrise. About 200 people were reportedly waiting outside one small Lidl in a northern Paris neighbourhood when the doors opened, and the calm did not last. Crowds surged towards the cooling aisles and, at several locations, shelves were stripped within minutes.

Footage shared widely online showed shoppers pushing, shoving and throwing punches over the last remaining units. At a store in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, air conditioners were “removed in just moments,” The Sun reported, with fights breaking out over the final boxes. Chaos also spread to the Paris suburbs of Sevran and Livry-Gargan, where The Guardian reported queueing cars blocking the centre of Sevran as crowds descended on a local supermarket. Police were called to intervene at multiple stores.

Les climatiseurs et ventilateurs sont pris d'assaut au Lidl de Nanterre.

La porte du magasin a été arrachée, quelques bagarres.

La police vient d'arriver sur place.#Lidl #Canicule #Nanterre pic.twitter.com/62Flt6gxZP

— Luc Auffret (@LucAuffret) July 2, 2026

Reaction to the footage has ranged from disbelief to dark humour. Mousa Traore, who had waited more than an hour with around 200 other customers, told The Guardian he was informed only two units were left, then watched police take them. “I think,” he added, laughing. Another shopper told the paper: “I give up, it’s madness… I abandoned my car several streets away to get there on foot but there is already a huge queue.” Carrières-sous-Poissy resident Haissam told Le Parisien, quoted by The Sun: “It’s ridiculous, people have gone completely mad.”

Demand for air conditioning is already rising in Spain

The rush for cooling equipment is not confined to France. Reuters has reported that sales of air conditioning units have climbed sharply across Spain, France, Britain and Germany as repeated bouts of extreme heat expose how many European homes were never built to cope with prolonged high temperatures. 

Separately, CNBC reported unprecedented European demand for imported air conditioning units, particularly Chinese-made models, as households across the continent scramble to cool homes designed for milder summers.

Could Spain see the same rush for fans?

Whether Spanish shoppers could see similar scramble scenes is, for now, an open question. Lidl Spain’s online catalogue currently lists cooling fans, including a bladeless model priced at €69.99, though there is no confirmation of a 200,000-unit flash sale matching the French campaign. 

MediaMarkt Spain has been running clearance offers on portable air conditioners and discounted fans in the run-up to summer. No evidence of stock shortages was found at Lidl Spain, Carrefour Spain, MediaMarkt Spain or Leroy Merlin Spain at the time of writing. But if temperatures do climb towards the levels AEMET has forecast, retailers may find demand for cooling products intensifying quickly. 

The €179 air conditioner people fought over

The scramble in France came down to three things: price, timing and availability. At €179, Lidl’s units cost a fraction of the €1,200 an equivalent air conditioner can fetch elsewhere in France.

The sale also landed just as a second heatwave was forecast to arrive within days. And unlike ordering online and waiting for delivery, shoppers who reached the shelves in time could take a unit home immediately which, for many, appeared to be the deciding factor.

🇫🇷 | Bagarre entre des clients pour le derniers #climatiseurs d'un #Lidl de Seine-Saint-Denis, alors que tous les #ventilateurs sont partis en quelques secondes 💥 pic.twitter.com/14u4OWkGKf

— Instant Actu (@Inst_Actu) July 2, 2026