SEE YOU AT THE FOOD COURT; SHOPPERS PACK MALL EARLY FOR BARGAINS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

It was 10 a.m. and Dan Huntington was eating chow mein for breakfast. And he wasn't the only one in the Valencia Town Center mall grabbing a quick bite after hours of early morning shopping.

Like the rest of the mall, the food court was jammed mostly with husbands dragged at dawn to shop with wives seeking those day-after-Thanksgiving holiday bargains.

``She didn't want anything,'' Huntington said of his wife, Roni. ``She doesn't need food for fuel. She runs on credit cards.''

And so the 1998 holiday shopping season began.

Stores, especially toy outlets, tried to outdo one another to see who would open the earliest. At the Town Center, K-B Toys opened at 6 a.m. Just moments after it opened, a 200-foot line had formed.

``It was a madhouse,'' said K-B clerk Craig Woodward.

The early start time gave Kathy Suyemoto of Newhall time to hit Toys `R' Us and Wal-Mart before landing at the mall. She declared victory at 11:15, leaving K-B Toys with five huge sacks of toys for the 14 kids on her Christmas list. Her receipt read $189 and some change.

Her best find was the three California Roller Girls dolls, regularly $40 each, for $7.99 apiece.

``I got up at a quarter to 6, threw on some sweats and here I am,'' Suyemoto said. ``There were people in line waiting to get into the store. Then there was a huge line at the cash register. People kept saying, I'm not going to wait, I'm not going to wait - but then you kept getting a little bit closer.''

Toys are big this year, said Town Center marketing director Kathleen Gill.

Sure to knock Tickle Me Elmo and Giga-Pets of Christmases past to the bottom of toy chests is Furby, a 5-inch talking hairball with pointy ears and saucer eyes. Toy stores in Santa Clarita were sold out within hours.

For the younger set, the old standbys - Barbie and Hot Wheels - are the top requests, said Kristin Sendewicz, one of Santa's helpers. By 10 a.m., her boss had visited with about 50 kids.

That scent of fruit salad wafting through the mall might have been coming from Mike Messenger of Castaic.

``We were at that bath . . . store looking for something for my wife, and my girls used me to sample everything,'' Messenger said. ``My right arm is kiwi, my left arm is apple. I don't know where that watermelon's coming from. I think it's next to the pineapple on my shoulder.''

Pamela Zilliox of Valencia sat on a bench in the mall crafting a new Christmas list to replace the one she had lost back at Sears.

``I'm trying to make a new one,'' she said. ``I have 11 kids to shop for and I better not forget anything.''

Deals or no deals, Carole Prater of Canyon Country shopped her last day-before-Thanksgiving sale Friday.

``I won't do it again,'' she said, weary from her 6:20 a.m. arrival at the mall. ``This is the first and last time. There are good deals, though.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Elaine King of Saugus reviews merchandise ads while waiting to shop Friday at K-B Toys. A line for the store formed at 6 a.m.

(2--Color) Kathy Suyemoto of Newhall leaves the Valencia Town Center loaded down with about four hours' worth of shopping Friday.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News