New Jersey's Jersey Gardens mall turns away Black Friday Shoppers over large crowds

As holidays go, Black Friday has undoubtedly become a little extreme—too extreme, in fact, for one New Jersey mall, which had to turn away shoppers due to crowds that ultimately backed up the New Jersey Turnpike.

The Jersey Gardens mall in Elizabeth saw a massive influx of Black Friday shoppers yesterday, leading to illegally parked cars, long lines, and a traffic snarl that forced a closure of the mall to additional shoppers. For the record, Jersey Gardens mall has about 50 retailers.

NJ.com captured some of the pandamonium in talking to shoppers—and attempted shoppers:

Ana Cunha of North Arlington said it took a half-hour to travel less than a mile approaching the mall around 6:30 p.m., and other motorists were not yielding to vehicles trying to enter the lot, which was full.

Inside, Cunha said, there were "more people than I've ever seen there before, but I've never been there for Black Friday", adding she did not see any disturbances among shoppers. While some stores had few shoppers, at others customers waited in line as staff admitted them a few at a time.

Neither area police nor a spokesperson for Glimcher Realty Trust, the company that owns Jersey Gardens mall, have commented on the fiasco.

[NJ.com]