No midnight opening at Gurnee Mills

Gurnee Mills is passing on a midnight day-after-Thanksgiving opening, which police say is a good idea considering the mayhem that occurred in the wee hours last year.

Instead, Gurnee Mills' Black Friday shopping will return to a 5 a.m. opening Nov. 26. Gurnee Mills' Florida-based spokesman Scott Dobroski said the time change wasn't in reaction to last year's incident.

Dobroski said other Mills malls owned by Simon Property Group Inc. will open at 5 a.m. instead of midnight on the day after Thanksgiving. He said while sales were “great,” the expenditures didn't make the effort worthwhile.

Gurnee police Cmdr. Jay Patrick said Friday that authorities didn't make any demands of the megamall for a later Black Friday start time.

“We think it's a good idea,” Patrick said.

Eight young men and teenagers were charged with crimes ranging from battery to criminal damage to property in the Gurnee Mills incidents Nov. 27, 2009.

Officers responded to 15 fight and disturbance calls throughout the mall and parking lot after the Black Friday midnight opening. In a letter this year praising an officer's work, Police Chief Robert Jones said 12 incidents happened from 1 to 2 a.m.

Available Gurnee police resources were quickly depleted from a high emergency call volume, Jones wrote. Lake County sheriff's deputies and regional Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm Service units assisted Gurnee authorities.

Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik said Gurnee Mills' return to a 5 a.m. opening for Black Friday makes financial sense.

“It's pretty expensive to open in the middle of the night,” Kovarik said. “How many shoppers does that attract?”