Thousands arrive for grand opening of new Bass Pro Shops location in Sayreville

Hey, Eric, there's a bit of a reason for that, right? We're already at capacity here at Bass Pro Shop Sayreville opening day. It's a lot outside like Black Friday used to look like. You know, the barricades, people lined up. So as for the specifics inside, right, we reached capacity in about 15 minutes. So now slowly letting in about 100 folks for every 100 that leave. It's an orderly process here. It's an exciting opening night here in Sayreville. This has been about 20 years in the making. You know, some of these folks are making the best of it. You've got your winter hats on. It's a little chilly, but... It's a little chilly, but I feel great. I'm out here. This is crazy. It's like a party. I can't wait to get inside. I'm so stoked. I can't believe it. I can't wait to see the fish tank and the snake maze. Let me ask you. You're so excited to get inside. What is it that you want to see or you want to buy most? I want to see the 80,000 gallon fish tank that they have. And they have a bowling alley apparently, so I'm excited to see that. And what made you guys decide, hey, we've got to be here opening night, we've got to treat it, it's almost like New Year's Eve or Black Friday, right? Yes, I had a bunch of friends coming out. I had to work until 5. I was worried I couldn't make it here. But I made it. I'm stoked. I'm excited to go inside. How was the traffic getting in? It was horrible. Horrible? The energy's awesome. But I was told to go to the ferry station, and I waited. The shuttle got me here pretty quick. Okay, so the shuttle worked out well for you. Great. Great. Amazing. I would recommend that to everybody. There we go. And how much longer are you willing to wait here? You'll wait all night if you have to, right? I could wait all night. I don't care. I'll go to sleep here. As long as it takes. As long as it takes. I will fall asleep in the parking lot over here. You're here first. People are excited. And where did you guys come from? Where did you guys come from? I live in Edison. I came from Edison. They came from North Brunswick. North Brunswick. OK. So Edison, North Brunswick. People are still coming by locally excited for this. Hope you guys get in soon. We've got a whole line of folks back there and a whole lot of excitement. Here outside, just wait until you get inside here. Bass Pro Shops Sayreville, Tom Krasnowski, News 12 New Jersey. It looks like they're getting ready to go in. How exciting. You can't beat this timing live on News 12. Yeah, yeah. Boy, are they excited, and they're going in. And the new Bass Pro Shops causing traffic for the surrounding area. We just heard about that a little bit. Many trying to find different ways to get to the store. News 12's Chris Keating looking at one of the options. This is one way to avoid sitting in any possible traffic that may form over at the main parking lot of the Bass Pro Shops. Shuttle buses are now picking up customers at the South Amboy Ferry Terminal. In fact, they are lining up right now as we speak, waiting for the next bus. This site is one of three locations for that free shuttle service. And from this location here in South Amboy, it's about a seven-minute ride over to the new store. With potentially 15,000 customers walking you 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. He is right about that. The boat belonging to former President H. W. Bush is on display at the Bass Pro Shop store here in Sayreville. Alvarez, who traveled from Bucks County, PA, about a 45-minute ride, tells me he is a fisherman and will be doing some shopping today for some new reels in addition to getting the Grand Tour. In South Amboy, I'm Chris Keating, News 12 New Jersey.