Rockaway Mall Prepares for 26-Hour Thanksgiving-Black Friday Marathon

Rockaway Townsquare hopes that once you've spent time with the family, watched some football and enjoyed your Thanksgiving dinner, you'll get a jump on gift shopping Thursday night. The mall opens at 8 p.m. and will keep its doors open until Friday at 10 p.m. That's right: 26 straight hours.

That isn't going over well with some mall workers. An Oct. 21 memo from mall management announcing its mandate that retailers must stay open for more than an entire day was leaked and ran on the gossip website Gawker, where it unleashed a torrent of negative backlash for the mall. Internet video news site Buzz:60 was among the national news outlets that covered the story and talked of employees angry about losing much of their holiday so that Townsquare can be open for 26 hours in a row. 

Simon Property Group, owner of the mall, responded that it is merely serving its customers and offering flexible shopping hours to help them cope with busy schedules, NJ.com reported. And the shopping center is going all out to persuade the public that leaving home and hearth is worth its while. 

“Heading to Rockaway Townsquare with family and friends is the perfect way to wrap up a holiday about gratitude and togetherness,” said Elizabeth DiDuca, the mall's director of mall marketing and business development, in a statement. “Many families enjoy entertainment traditions around Thanksgiving, whether it’s sharing meals, going shopping, seeing a movie or watching a game together.” 

The statement even noted that Thanksgiving shopping is an opportunity to cross off names on your gift list and take advantage of holiday deals while walking off the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.

Rockaway Townsquare will have a lot going on to entice buyers Thursday and Friday and throughout the holiday gift-buying season. A complimentary Shopper Shuttle service will transport guests from their cars to the mall and back. Greeters will be posted at every Townsquare entrance to welcome visitors. 

The first 100 shoppers to visit Simon Guest Services will receive a special gift. This is also the place to enter a sweepstakes to win a $10,000 shopping spree. (If you decide to spend Thanksgiving with kith and kin rather than at the mall, you can enter through the Dec. 31 deadline via the Rockaway Townsquare Facebook page.)  There will also be giveaways of items including shopping totes and jingle bells.

Music and entertainment will be a big part of the experience. A stilt walker will perform from 8 p.m. to midnight Thursday. From 6 a.m. to noon on Black Friday, the mall will feature live jazz.  

There will also be on-site gift wrapping services and the shopping center's annual Wish Wall program, in which kids leave messages of gift wishes and shoppers can purchase a gift to make a child's wish come true.