Prime Outlets Mall employees are preparing for tens of thousands of people to descend upon their stores this Friday for the midnight kickoff of the holiday shopping season.
"Every year, it gets a little bit bigger," said Kristen Hauer, the marketing manager for Prime Outlets in Jeffersonville. "We continue to learn new things every year and improve on the event. So it's a little bit better every year as well."
The event is called "Midnight Madness," or what mall officials call "the ultimate in Black Friday bargain shopping and giveaways." Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
This is the fourth year that Prime Outlets has held this event, which runs from midnight throughout the day Friday.
The mall, located at the U.S. Route 35/I-71 interchange, will offer limited-time only, best-of-the-season discounts on an array of holiday items from midnight to 8 a.m. during its Midnight Madness Pajama Jam celebrations.
"It pays to dress down for the party, as the first 500 shoppers to visit Guest Services wearing pajamas will receive a free goodie bag filled with coupons and great giveaways, including Jockey brand pajamas," said Hauer. "What's more, lucky pajama wearing shoppers may find a Prime Outlets gift card tucked away in their complimentary goodies bags."
Coupons for Black Friday are also available on the mall's website at www.primeoutlets.com.
In order to provide parking for all of the additional customers, the mall has been given access to three off-site parking lots, including the parking lot at the Travel Centers of America truck stop, the parking lot in front of Bob Evans and an extra lot across from the Love's station.
A free shuttle service is available for customers who park in those lots.
The Fayette County Sheriff's Office will have a strong presence at the event to direct traffic and to make sure that problems are kept to a minimum.
"It's planned very well," said Sheriff Vernon Stanforth. "We've met with mall personnel numerous times to go over the plan and we aren't expecting many problems. The past couple of years, we haven't had nearly as many problems as the first year."
During the inaugural year of Midnight Madness, many customers parked off to the side of the interstate and hopped a fence to get to the mall. "We won't tolerate any parking on the side of the roads or the interstate," said Stanforth. "I think most people realize they can't do that."
Prime Outlets is paying for the sheriff's office personnel to be at the event. Shoppers are encouraged to arrive early in order to get the best parking spaces.
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