Malls Don't Care?
The malls do not care if you shop there or not. The Simon malls make their money renting space.
No, you're right, they don't care whether
YOU, the individual (person, individual, each, qty: 1) shop there. Yes, they make their money renting space.
However.
They are able to rent space
at a premium price per square foot to stores, because they can boast of the
guaranteed foot traffic.
The
Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas has been through some trying times in the last few years, including at least two changes of ownership. Why? They couldn't protect the public, and there had been several gang shoot-outs in the mall over a two-year period. And why was that? Because they
encouraged a demographic change with an emphasis on younger shoppers (13-25), which succeeded in bringing in younger shoppers, with the
unintended consequence of driving away older shoppers and families. Attendance fell off dramatically.
I had this conversation with business owners Daro and Ruth, who ran the African Import store in the cross-connecting corridor. They had 18 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days left on their lease. To the day. And every time I visited them over the next 18 months, they recited the number of months, weeks, and days left on their contract.
They were gone a matter of days after their lease was up.
The mall that didn't care was losing businesses hand over fist. They were losing big names (including Disney) because they had screwed up the demographic for what they had believed would be a larger profit from sales to young, hip, happening kids. What they got was shoot-outs, loss of family business, and loss of big names that depended on families.
I don't know if they've recovered from that debacle, but I learned that, even if the
mall ownership itself doesn't care who shops there, the actual
stores and businesses do.
So, if you're thinking about writing a letter to the mall management/ownership, you might also consider copying that same letter to some of your favorite stores in that same mall.
They may not listen to
YOU, but if one of their cash cows comes to them, saying, "hey, we've received dozens of letters complaining about your policies, and we're losing business," they will listen to
THAT.
Make sure you complain where it will do the most good.