Black Friday Kicks Off Neshaminy Mall’s Holiday Season

Black Friday may only be one day, but staff and management at the began planning for the big shopping day well in advance.

According to Neshaminy Mall General Manager Dennis Deehan, he and his staff began planning for this year's Black Friday and holiday shopping season in January, just after the last holiday season came to an end.

"We meet as teams locally, regionally and corporately to talk about what worked and any new programs to introduce the following year," Deehan said.

Two elements that came from those planning meetings more than 11 months ago are the brand new holiday décor throughout the mall and a new children’s play area, which Deehan said make this holiday season even more special for the mall.

"There’s a lot of planning that goes into that," he said. First, Deehan and his staff chose a theme and selected a company to design the décor and children's play area.

"We had ideas as a team of what we wanted the holiday décor to look like and where we wanted it to go," he said, noting that the planning "gets more focused and detailed" until everything arrives in November.

The one thing mall staff plans on for every Black Friday? An early start.

This year, Deehan said that mall staff will be at the mall and ready for the day by midnight on Black Friday. Macy's and several other retail stores open at midnight and from then on throughout the morning, but the mall will be completely open to shoppers by 5 a.m.

Despite the lines that form in the middle of the night of customers waiting for the rush when the retailers open the front doors, shoppers come out in drodes well after the sun rises and throughout the day of Black Friday and into the following weekend.

"It’s a huge shopping day," Deehan said.

"I think a lot of people have off for the weekend and head to the mall with family to get a jumpstart on their holiday shopping," he said, adding that Black Friday at the Neshaminy Mall is "typically the day that a lot of the national retailers have a lot of great deals and buys" for shoppers to take advantage of.

Beginning this Friday, Deehan said that the Neshaminy Mall sees a lot more shoppers and foot traffic throughout Decemeber. Based on his research, Deehan said the mall is expecting a "good holiday season" and that "sales at the mall have been tracking up."