STORE WARS: SHOPPERS OUT IN FORCE
Shoppers flood aisles and Midtown streets as holiday shopping is off to roaring start
From talking turkey to stuffing shopping bags, deal-hungry patrons descended on the city to gobble up Black Friday bargains — just in time to enjoy the new, pedestrianfriendly traffic restrictions in Midtown.
As of 1 p.m. Friday, cars were limited to two lanes of traffic on Fifth Ave. between 48th and 52nd Sts., forcing vehicles to drive in the center two lanes. And 49th and 50th Sts. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. were also closed to car traffic.
Shoppers were quick to pound the newly cleared pavement.
“I love it. Anytime there’s more room for pedestrians in New York City, it makes my day,” said Upper East Side resident Zach Miller, 31. “Especially down here because they haven’t put in tourist lanes yet. So it’s really nice to have the entire stretch of the street to spread out and get away from the crowd.”
The setup initially confused some tourists and other pedestrians unaccustomed to the lack of cars, but by 3 p.m. the closed streets began to fill with families and shoppers.
A rugby team from Canada even tossed around the football-shaped ball on car-free
W. 49th St.
“It’s a lot smoother to be able to go back and forth with the kids and to check things without having to worry about getting hit with a car,” said Albert Allie, a 49-yearold resident of Ridgewood, Queens.
Musset Celestine, a 37year-old Flatbush native who started shopping at 8 a.m., was too busy hunting for bargains to worry about traffic.
“The deals are good, the crowds are good, it’s always like this. It’s mayhem,” said Celestine, as he hustled toward Herald Square. “Kanye dropped his sneakers today, so we shopped in Downtown Brooklyn and worked our way up here… You might as well start early because Christmas is like tomorrow.”
SUNY Binghamton student Dong Quan, 24, was also looking for Kanye’s new Boost 380 shoes.
“In the U.S., it’s really a big rush,” the Chinese native said. “But in China, it’s nothing.”
Some tourists expected Black Friday chaos and a violent dash for sales — and were pleasantly surprised they only encountered long lines.
“The crowds were acceptable, not like what we were hearing about, that they hit each other and steal from your bag,” said Ahmed Mos
alami, 30, in the city on business from Cairo, Egypt.
“London’s just starting to do Black Friday, but it’s nothing like this,” said Sandee Smith, visiting with her friends from across the pond. “We worked out especially for this,” she added. “I’m a bag lady so I’m used to it. More bags to come!”
Still, Smith’s friend Tina Strickland of Yorkshire said she got fed up waiting in line at Victoria’s Secret.
“It’s mental,” Strickland said. “It was two hours to queue in there and I was like forget it.”
Their pal Vas Fardy tried to convince them to return to shopping to get another 10% off.
“No we’re not because the queues are unbelievable,” Strickland retorted. “We’re going to go for a quick gin and tonic because we deserve it.”
As crowds filed into the shopping district Thanksgiving weekend, plenty more were already there to clock in.
“It’s honestly not that bad,” Isabel, an employee of a major store in midtown, before rushing to start her noon shift on Friday. “I’m happy I didn’t work yesterday.”
Canarsie native Clarence Givhans, 59, said it was clear that the new traffic restrictions around Midtown made life easier for shoppers — but not drivers.
“Where you gonna park these cars at?” Givhans wondered as he parked illegally after dropping off friends at the corner of 49th St. and Fifth Ave.
“During the holiday season, there’s too much traffic,” Givhans said.
But then he noted that, “Traffic deters a lot of people from doing what they want to do, like shop.”
Car-sharing app driver Carter Hutchinson, 23, was forced to make a left turn on Friday afternoon and griped about not having a say in the closures.
“It is a hassle, but honestly, there’s nothing I can really do,” he said. “It’s over me, it’s the government, they can take care of it.”
The closures on 49th and 50th Sts. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. will be in effect between 2 p.m. and midnight from Monday to Thursday, from 1 p.m. to midnight on Friday and 10 a.m. to midnight on the weekends. Buses are also bypassing stops between 48th and 52nd Sts.
The traffic restrictions will be in place until Jan. 6.
As many as 20,000 pedestrians flow through the area every hour during the holiday season to take in attractions like the Saks Fifth Avenue windows and Radio City Music Hall, according to Transportation Department data.