Thousands Head to NewPark For Black Friday

Thousands of shoppers lined up at late Thursday night waiting for the second Black Friday midnight opening of the shopping center.

They came ready, wearing puffy jackets and beanies, pajama bottoms and bundled up in blankets. And all of them were looking for deals.

But while many were trying to get deals on big-ticket items, such as TVs and other electronics, others tolerated the cold and the crowd just to see what was being offered.

Newark residents Melissa Baptista and Ashley Silva are frequent Black Friday shoppers. Why do they do it?

“We’re crazy,” Baptista joked. “[But] we’re just browsing.”

It was the first time Union City resident Jessica Rohrbacher went out to check out the savings offered to consumers.

“It’s intense,” she said about the dedicated people who lined up hours before the opening.

Her hope was to take advantage of an iTouch deal from that comes with a gift certificate with a purchase, but said she wouldn't be upset if it wasn't going to work out.

“I’m not sure I’ll do it again,” Rohrbacher said. “If I see something I like, I’ll get it. If not, I’m not going to trample over anyone for it.”

NewPark Mall Manager Kelly Gardner said the number of shoppers this year totals nearly double than that of last year, which is when the mall had its first soft midnight opening.

“By the looks of everything …the registers have long lines, people with a lot of shopping bags …it’s looking up,” Gardner said. “[It] looks like its promising.”

Gardner estimated that there were about 3,000 shoppers by midnight with more trickling in as the day went on. About 40 stores participated in the midnight opening.

As for the customers who found the stores they hoped to shop at closed at midnight, they still lined up.

Milpitas resident Mahesh Madhvani said while it was questionable to wait up to another five hours for to open, the deal to save $170 on a Playstation 3 set wasn’t one he could pass up.

“It’s worth waiting to make the kid happy,” he said.