The Great Mall drew thousands of shoppers with the first Black Friday sales in the region. 

Serious shoppers stood in line for hours. The first person in line at Great Mall's entrance one had been standing behind the orange plastic barricade since 7 p.m. Thursday.

"I like being first at everything," said 18-year-old Brian Hernandez from San Jose.

Minutes before the midnight opening, he seemed upbeat, albeit slightly cold. But perhaps the more daunting task lay ahead. Hernandez said he didn't plan to finish shopping at the mall until 7 a.m. Friday.

That's how it has worked out from past experience on Black Friday at the Great Mall, he said. He had budgeted $400 to spend on Christmas presents for his family.

The amount of advertising spent on this year's holiday shopping season for the Great Mall was about the same as in the past, said spokeswoman Cristina Robles. But the mall increased its use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about the Black Friday midnight opening. Preparation was key to pulling off a successful night for shoppers, staff and safety personnel, given the scale of the logistics involved.  

For the first time this Black Friday, the mall rented parking lots on McCandless Drive for its employees and shuttled them in, said Robles. That saved about 1,200 spaces. The mall also worked in conjunction with the city and county on the timing of the traffic lights—to make sure they were in sync. 

"Every year we learn something new," she said. 

The mall allowed the crowds to enter through its doors 10 minutes before midnight, even though the stores themselves weren't open. That was new this year.

"It gives them some time to get to the stores they want before midnight," Robles said. 

One of the most popular businesses, the Coach Factory Store, reached its maximum capacity of 150 in its first hour. The fire department had met with the store to come up with a plan to manage the lines. A Disneyland-like line formation, with lots of turns, had been set up in a vacant store next door. The staff had clickers to count the number of people going in and out. Additional security staff also was hired.

"What's important is setting up the expectation for next year," said Fire Chief Brian Sturdivant, observing the crowds on multiple TV screens behind the scenes at the mall. The fire department had an engine, a truck, the Urban Search and Rescue vehicle, 11 sworn personnel and 17 volunteer fire aides at the mall.

This Black Friday had a structured plan for crowd control and safety, including having the merchants sign papers to hold them accountable.  

 The chief's previous position as deputy chief in Scottsdale, Ariz., had him covering events as large as 250,000 people for the Phoenix Open, an annual golf tournament. For events such as the tournament, and two big car shows each year, there was seamless coordination between the fire and police, he said.

"I wanted to bring some of that to Milpitas," said Sturdivant. "So far it's worked really well."