Drivers traveling over the meadow and through the woods to Grove City tonight for the midnight sales at the mall should have an easier time than those who sat in miles of traffic on Interstate 79 last Thanksgiving.

This year, mall operators and highway patrol officers are prepared for the onslaught of shoppers looking to get a jump on bargain-hunting at Prime Outlets at Grove City.

"Last year, it took us all by surprise," said state police Sgt. Randy Anderson in Mercer. "Neither us nor the outlet mall expected it to be so wildly successful."

It was so successful that drivers sat for hours in every direction -- on interstates and side roads -- inching along for at least three miles.

"It was so successful that we couldn't dissuade them out of it this year," Sgt. Anderson said.

Last year, a directive from Prime Outlets corporate headquarters in Baltimore designated the mall at Grove City as one of 10 in the nationwide chain of 38 to experiment with a holiday shopping push that began at midnight Thanksgiving evening -- as opposed to the traditional 6 a.m. store openings on what has come to be called "Black Friday."

"It was success beyond any kind of forecast we ever could have had," said Michele Czerwinski, senior marketing manager for the mall.

Thousands of shoppers, eager to get into the 140 stores, quickly filled the parking lot's 3,500 spaces. The cars backed up onto the roads, then onto the highway ramps, and, finally, onto Interstate 79. Drivers pulled out their cell phones and called radio stations to vent their frustration.

This year, things are going to be different for the after-Thanksgiving sale. (Ms. Czerwinski avoids the phrase "midnight madness"; it has such a negative connotation.)

First, the mall has added 500 parking spaces on its site. In addition, the management has lined up auxiliary parking at local churches, businesses and hotels, where shuttle buses to the mall will be provided.

The shuttles start at 10 p.m. and mall employees are being urged to park in the auxiliary lots. There will be security in the lots, Ms. Czerwinski said.

There also will be plenty of signs and people directing traffic. Sgt. Anderson said officers will control traffic lights and drivers bound for the mall will be urged to keep right to permit through traffic in the left lanes.

But the big difference, he said, will be that traffic will not be permitted to back up onto the interstate again. Once it reaches back to the ramps, the exits will be closed and drivers on the interstate will be forced to continue to the next open exit.

"We can't have them sitting on an interstate highway for two and three hours at a time," he said. "It's not a parking lot, and it's a very, very dangerous place for them to be. We're not going to allow that to happen again."

The crush of shoppers may be a traffic nightmare, but it's a retailer's dream come true.

"People enjoy shopping at midnight and they love bargains," Ms. Czerwinski said. "From a business and marketing perspective, it was the most exciting thing that I ever experienced in my life.

"I don't know what Woodstock was like, but I felt like it was this little secret sale that everybody knew about. We had the most fabulous crowd of people, very happy, go-getters, very positive. We're hoping to have the same type of group this year."

It's already shaping up that way.

Cindy Wigton, general manager for the Hampton Inn and Suites in Grove City, said all six of the hotels near the mall have been booked for a year in anticipation of tonight. And most of the guests are bargain-hunters from north of the border.

"We have eight buses coming in [today] from Canada," Ms. Wigton said.

"That's mostly because Canadians don't celebrate Thanksgiving," Ms. Czerwinski said. So they come down to take advantage of friendly currency exchange rates and the fact that there's no sales tax on clothing in Pennsylvania.

The best time to shop, she said, would be between 5 and 10 a.m. tomorrow, after the midnight crowd has gone home and before the Black Friday shoppers arrive.

Sgt. Anderson agreed.

"My guess is it's going to be an annual rite," he said.