And so it begins

An opening salvo has been fired in the Black Friday battle and this one emanated from South Florida where the massive Sawgrass Mills outlet mall announced it will stay open around the clock beginning at 10 p.m. on Thanskgiving day. The mall is home to a Super Target and about 350 other stores.

“This is a major first for Sawgrass Mills and it is a great way to kick off the holiday season,” said Joellyn Fellmeth, director of marketing and business development at Sawgrass Mills. “An extra two hours of shopping translates into more great buys for our shoppers and more time for our retailers to cash in on the busy shopping season.”

Sawgrass Mills is not your typical mall. It is the largest outlet mall in the U.S. and it had already begun opening at midnight a few years ago. Opening a few hours earlier shouldn’t be too big of an adjustment for merchants. In addition, it offers valet parking from multiple locations and a month ago began a new services where people who buy so much stuff they don’t want to carry it all can store it at the mall and have it shipped to their home, hotel, the airport or final destination whether that is domestic or international.