BUENA PARK : Shoppers Jam New Fedco Store in Mall

Cars jammed parking lots. Parking spaces were a commodity as motorists waited for places to park.

Police combed through the lot, giving tickets for illegal parking and making sure people were getting in and out safely.

And inside a new Fedco store, shoppers shuffled bumper-to-bumper down aisles with teal shopping carts filled with everything from holiday gifts and groceries to clothing, toiletries and plants.

Welcome to Wednesday’s grand opening of Fedco at Buena Park Mall--the first store of the discount membership chain to locate in a shopping mall.

By 10 a.m., already several thousand shoppers had sampled the new store. Officials said they expected 30,000 shoppers on the first day.

“Opening day is a madhouse,” said Dolores Andreasen of Norwalk, who decided not to shop and instead to just look around.

“I need to get some things, but I’ll never get them here today,” Andreasen said.

When the store opened, it was chaotic as shoppers inched down aisles to look for bargains.

Lines formed outside elevators to take shoppers with their carts to the three floors. Escalators were elbow-room-only, and when there was a temporary breakdown in the morning, people didn’t seem to mind having to climb them like stairs.

When shoppers were finished threading their way through the mob and had loaded up carts, they waited, and waited, to check out goods.

“I’m thinking about putting all of this down,” said George Frazier of Buena Park, a first-time Fedco shopper whose arms were filled with a cooking steamer, clock radio and movie video.

Frazier had been waiting to check out for 15 minutes, and was still near the end of the line. “I expected a crowd, but I didn’t think it’d be this hard to check out.”

Dolores Davis of Brea said she wouldn’t have missed the store’s opening.

“I don’t mind the crowds--that’s what’s exciting,” said Davis, who has had a membership card for about 15 years but had never used it because the closest Fedcos are in either Costa Mesa or Cerritos.

Store officials beamed at the streams of customers. “There is no other store like this,” said Michael Gantes, Fedco senior vice president. “We have the best values in town, the best selection of merchandise--in a terrific environment.”

Gantes said that the public is allowed to shop at the store for the next couple of weeks, without buying a $10 membership card. “It’s a way to acquaint them (with) who we are,” he said.

Colors of teal, yellow and white adorned the spacious new super store, which boasts a farmer’s market with fresh bakery goods and deli, and, a food court on the lower floor. The mall-level floor has a one-hour photo department, garden shop, pharmacy, books, clothing and housewares. The third floor features furniture, TVs, major appliances, even a seven-seat theater to promote a $6,000 home theater set-up with a 7-foot screen.