Wrentham may do away with Black Friday at outlets

WRENTHAM, Mass. (WHDH) -- It's a holiday pastime, but it could be a black out for Black Friday shoppers at the Wrentham Outlet malls.

Tens of thousands of deal seekers flock to the giant shopping center every day after Thanksgiving. But if some town leaders have their way, those shoppers will need to find a different place to spend their money.

A battle over safety may force the town to pull the plug on the ultra early holiday shopping.

“I think that's a bad idea a very bad idea I think Black Friday is a very good thing,” said one woman.

Police say the event brings in people from all over country including some dangerous unwanted guests.

“Malls are considered to be terrorist targets, soft targets by Homeland Security,” said Lt. William McGrath, Wrentham Police Department.

The town wanted the mall to put up 30 cameras in the parking lots. Mall management agreed to 10 but with some conditions. One being that the town would maintain the cameras -- and the mall also wants to cancel the yearly review of their license to open early on Black Friday.

“Just because yesterday's event went smooth doesn't mean tomorrow is going to. In any major event you need to reevaluate and reassess and improve. This is an improvement we've been looking for at least a decade,” said Lt. McGrath.

So now the town planning board will meet Wednesday night to consider canceling the midnight madness event at the outlets.

“If they town feels it’s that big of a safety issue then that's why we elect our officials -- make those decisions for us,” said Dave Hansen.

Mall management says they hope to come to a resolution with the town and that in the past they have received praise from the police dept about how smooth the event has gone.

“We just want to be satisfied that the public safety is acceptable to what we consider a minimal level and then we're willing to go and take care of traffic take care of incidents and do it at midnight,” said Lt. McGrath.

Town officials could possibly vote Wednesday on whether or not to cancel Black Friday.