Free shuttle service offered for the grand opening of Bass Pro Shops

Eric, it's a party here at long last. It's opening day here just off the parkway in Sayreville. Look at this line snaking around the spacious parking lot here. It's a 220,000-square-foot store, and just about every lot, space in the lot, is filled up. Now, all the way at the front of the line, someone's got to be here, right? These folks came from Colonia, not far. They came at 7 p.m. last night. They just had to be first in line. I asked them, what do they want most from the store inside? Answer was simple, the Bass Pro Shops hat. It is in style right now, and they're going to be the first ones to get it. Let's get a look at that line and show you what it looked like on speed up here. There's a whole party here. Food trucks, live music, NASCAR drivers, pro anglers, they're all here to celebrate. And there's so much to do once you get inside, right? There's these spacious, gigantic aquarium inside, the restaurant, the bowling alley, and of course all that merchandise, some sweet boats in there. And hey, tonight, 15% of the sales are going back to benefit local conservation here in New Jersey. We spoke with shoppers from all over the tri-state, and the Sayreville residents say today was 20 years in the making. The nation's grandest and biggest, it's something to be proud of, and something outside of Jon Bon Jovi that people in Sayreville will be talking about. TikTok and the news, they were saying it was going to be packed today, so we've got to be the first ones here to experience it. I've been waiting my whole life for this. It's amazing. It's a history. A lot of happy faces here in Saraville. We'll be among the first ones inside. We'll tell you what everyone's shopping for. Now, again, part of the great part of this location here, we're right off the parkway, Turnpike 287 not far. It's easy to get here, but that means there could be some traffic issues. This is all happening during rush hour. That's where Chris Keating is here to explain a little bit about what's being done to mitigate all of that. He's at the ferry terminal. What's going on, Chris? And over here. Tom, this right here is one way to avoid sitting in any traffic. They may be forming over that main parking lot at the Bass Pro Shops. We can tell you right here at the South Amboy Ferry Terminal, shuttle buses are picking up customers as we speak. In fact, right across the street from where I'm standing at this terminal, there's a long line of people now waiting for that next shuttle bus to show up. This is one of three locations where you can take advantage of that free shuttle service. And from right here at this ferry terminal, it's only about a seven-minute ride over to the grand opening for that store. With potentially 15,000 customers walking through the front door of that 200,000 square foot Bass Pro Shops tonight, you might want to avoid the main parking lot. There are three options for free shuttle service. One is right here in South Amboy at the Ferry Terminal. The other is the Epic Church across the street from the store. And a third is the Woodbridge Center Mall. The new store sits between the Raritan River and the Garden State Parkway at exit 125. There are concerns for heavy traffic in the area of Riverton Boulevard and Route 35 and Riverton. At Main Street, it's a stretch of roadway closest to the store that could easily get congested quickly. We found Joseph Alvarez parking in one of those overflow lots. He drove about 45 minutes from Bucks County, Pennsylvania to be on hand for this grand opening. I've been waiting about two years for this and I just wanted to be out here and, you know, enjoy the festivities that they got going on. I'm really excited to see one of the, I think they have George Bush's boat on display here. So I'm really excited to see that. Here they got a bowling alley too, so that's pretty cool. And he is right about that. The boat belonging to former President H.W. Bush is on display at this store. Alvarez, who traveled from Bucks County, tells me he's excited about this and will be doing some shopping as well, in addition to taking a tour of this store. That's the latest. In South Amboy, I'm Chris Keating, News 12 New Jersey.