Kids can hang up hanging out at mall
Source: Meridian Star – Local News. Ida Brown / senior staff writer
Hang out time at Bonita Lakes Mall will soon be shortened for youth who frequent the shopping center on weekends.
Mall officials announced plans Friday to implement a Youth Escort Policy (YEP) to provide shoppers and retailers a more "family-friendly, convenient and enjoyable" shopping experience.
The new policy – which will be enforced beginning July 25 – requires all mall visitors under 18 years of age to be accompanied at all times by a parent or guardian who is 21 years of age, on Friday and Saturday nights after 6 p.m. Those under 18 may shop in the department stores without a parent or adult guardian. However, they must enter and exit the stores' outdoor entrances.
Security guards will be at each of the mall's entrances – the three main entrances as well as those at the anchored department stores (Belk, Dillard's, JCPenney and Sears). Any unaccompanied shopper not easily identifiable as over the age of 18 will be asked to show identification. If they are under 18 or if they are unable to provide identification, they will be asked to leave. Those without immediate transportation will be taken to a room the mall calls The Reunion Room, where there will be adult supervision and a telephone for them to call a family member to come pick them up.
"We are in no way saying teenagers are not welcomed," said Bonita Lakes Mall General Manager Tommy White. "We welcome them, we want them, we want their business. We're just asking that they work with us so that we can return to this community, the family-friendly shopping center that we were built to be."
Mall officials said the escort policy was considered after other measures failed to curtail what they described as a rising number of unsupervised youth at the mall and disturbances occurring there on Friday and Saturday nights.
"We have examined and refined our security procedures, particularly those related to public spaces inside and outside the mall," White said. "We have added personnel and adjusted schedules to optimize security presence throughout the day. Still, shoppers have continued to express concern over uncomfortable atmospheres on Friday and Saturday nights due to behavioral incidents by unsupervised youth."
White said as many as 500 unsupervised youth and young adults hang out at the mall on Friday and Saturday nights. Of the security-related incidents, which the mall described as bans and arrests, occurring since January, about 50 percent were a direct result of unsupervised youth.
"Friday and Saturday nights are supposed to be the busiest times for retailers. You have families who work Monday through Friday and Friday nights is when they are ready to do something outside the home. Many surveys show that shopping is the No. 1 thing families like to do together," he said. "Our retailers have told us their shoppers have said, 'We don't want to come there on Friday and Saturday nights because we don't want to have to wade through the sea of unruly teens."
Mall officials said they conducted a series of meetings with community leaders and patrons including representatives from the city of Meridian, the Meridian Police Department, the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, the NAACP and from youth service and youth organizations, such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Boys and Girls Club and city and county schools. Through feedback from those meetings, the Youth Escort Policy was designed.
"Teenagers are important to Bonita Lakes Mall and our retailers," he said. "Unfortunately, a growing number of youth and young adults are attempting to use the mall in a manner which prohibits us from being about the business that we are designed to be — to serve as a center of commerce in Meridian that brings quality stores and shoppers together."
White said the escort policy has a proven success rate.
"We are the 13th mall in the CBL (mall owner) portfolio as well as numerous malls across the country to implement this program. And Mall of America, the largest mall in the United States, has this policy," he said.
Albert Whitehouse of corporation communications at CBL said results should be realized within 30 to 60 days.
"Sales should go up as much as 60 percent as more people start coming to the mall, and shoplifting will go way down," Whitehouse said. "We love teens – they have a huge buying power, an estimated $18 billion. But on weekends, it gets overwhelming."
Teens employed at the mall will still be allowed to work after 6 p.m on Friday and Saturday nights, and Bonita Lakes Mall will issue identification to teens under 18 years of age for ease of access to work during that time.
Teenagers will still be able to catch a movie on weekend nights.
"They will have about a 30-minute window of opportunity prior to the movie starting," White said. "If they come into the mall and are identified as being underage, they will tell the security guard they are going to the movie, go and purchase their ticket and get something to eat before the movie. But we will be watching them to make sure they are not using the movie as an excuse."
Meridian Police Chief Benny DuBose said he doesn't think the escort policy is not unreasonable.
"It's better than from 6 p.m. to closing every night," DuBose said. "I think it will work."
Yonaton Yares is director of the National Youth Rights Association in Washington, D.C., an advocate group for youth rights that believes legal voting and drinking ages should be lowered. The NYRA also opposes all juvenile curfew laws.
"How about they make better policies, like if you got caught (causing a disturbance, shoplifting), you get banned," said Yares. "Rather than saying let's do it for everyone, why not make one and make it so it can set someone as an example. Ban someone to show others that this will not be tolerated. But it's unfair to punish everyone for the actions of a few."
But, Scott "Batch" Batchelder, manager of The Buckle at Bonita Lakes, said the Youth Escort Policy is a good thing. Batchelder said he witnessed its success firsthand while working at a mall with a similar policy.
"I was at a mall where this was implemented and how much better the mall did — as far as increase in sales and the decrease in shoplifting — was amazing," said Batchelder, who transferred to Meridian from a mall in Houston, Texas.
"I really do believe this is going to work out for everyone."
Hang out time at Bonita Lakes Mall will soon be shortened for youth who frequent the shopping center on weekends.
Mall officials announced plans Friday to implement a Youth Escort Policy (YEP) to provide shoppers and retailers a more "family-friendly, convenient and enjoyable" shopping experience.
The new policy – which will be enforced beginning July 25 – requires all mall visitors under 18 years of age to be accompanied at all times by a parent or guardian who is 21 years of age, on Friday and Saturday nights after 6 p.m. Those under 18 may shop in the department stores without a parent or adult guardian. However, they must enter and exit the stores' outdoor entrances.
Security guards will be at each of the mall's entrances – the three main entrances as well as those at the anchored department stores (Belk, Dillard's, JCPenney and Sears). Any unaccompanied shopper not easily identifiable as over the age of 18 will be asked to show identification. If they are under 18 or if they are unable to provide identification, they will be asked to leave. Those without immediate transportation will be taken to a room the mall calls The Reunion Room, where there will be adult supervision and a telephone for them to call a family member to come pick them up.
"We are in no way saying teenagers are not welcomed," said Bonita Lakes Mall General Manager Tommy White. "We welcome them, we want them, we want their business. We're just asking that they work with us so that we can return to this community, the family-friendly shopping center that we were built to be."
Mall officials said the escort policy was considered after other measures failed to curtail what they described as a rising number of unsupervised youth at the mall and disturbances occurring there on Friday and Saturday nights.
"We have examined and refined our security procedures, particularly those related to public spaces inside and outside the mall," White said. "We have added personnel and adjusted schedules to optimize security presence throughout the day. Still, shoppers have continued to express concern over uncomfortable atmospheres on Friday and Saturday nights due to behavioral incidents by unsupervised youth."
White said as many as 500 unsupervised youth and young adults hang out at the mall on Friday and Saturday nights. Of the security-related incidents, which the mall described as bans and arrests, occurring since January, about 50 percent were a direct result of unsupervised youth.
"Friday and Saturday nights are supposed to be the busiest times for retailers. You have families who work Monday through Friday and Friday nights is when they are ready to do something outside the home. Many surveys show that shopping is the No. 1 thing families like to do together," he said. "Our retailers have told us their shoppers have said, 'We don't want to come there on Friday and Saturday nights because we don't want to have to wade through the sea of unruly teens."
Mall officials said they conducted a series of meetings with community leaders and patrons including representatives from the city of Meridian, the Meridian Police Department, the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, the NAACP and from youth service and youth organizations, such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Boys and Girls Club and city and county schools. Through feedback from those meetings, the Youth Escort Policy was designed.
"Teenagers are important to Bonita Lakes Mall and our retailers," he said. "Unfortunately, a growing number of youth and young adults are attempting to use the mall in a manner which prohibits us from being about the business that we are designed to be — to serve as a center of commerce in Meridian that brings quality stores and shoppers together."
White said the escort policy has a proven success rate.
"We are the 13th mall in the CBL (mall owner) portfolio as well as numerous malls across the country to implement this program. And Mall of America, the largest mall in the United States, has this policy," he said.
Albert Whitehouse of corporation communications at CBL said results should be realized within 30 to 60 days.
"Sales should go up as much as 60 percent as more people start coming to the mall, and shoplifting will go way down," Whitehouse said. "We love teens – they have a huge buying power, an estimated $18 billion. But on weekends, it gets overwhelming."
Teens employed at the mall will still be allowed to work after 6 p.m on Friday and Saturday nights, and Bonita Lakes Mall will issue identification to teens under 18 years of age for ease of access to work during that time.
Teenagers will still be able to catch a movie on weekend nights.
"They will have about a 30-minute window of opportunity prior to the movie starting," White said. "If they come into the mall and are identified as being underage, they will tell the security guard they are going to the movie, go and purchase their ticket and get something to eat before the movie. But we will be watching them to make sure they are not using the movie as an excuse."
Meridian Police Chief Benny DuBose said he doesn't think the escort policy is not unreasonable.
"It's better than from 6 p.m. to closing every night," DuBose said. "I think it will work."
Yonaton Yares is director of the National Youth Rights Association in Washington, D.C., an advocate group for youth rights that believes legal voting and drinking ages should be lowered. The NYRA also opposes all juvenile curfew laws.
"How about they make better policies, like if you got caught (causing a disturbance, shoplifting), you get banned," said Yares. "Rather than saying let's do it for everyone, why not make one and make it so it can set someone as an example. Ban someone to show others that this will not be tolerated. But it's unfair to punish everyone for the actions of a few."
But, Scott "Batch" Batchelder, manager of The Buckle at Bonita Lakes, said the Youth Escort Policy is a good thing. Batchelder said he witnessed its success firsthand while working at a mall with a similar policy.
"I was at a mall where this was implemented and how much better the mall did — as far as increase in sales and the decrease in shoplifting — was amazing," said Batchelder, who transferred to Meridian from a mall in Houston, Texas.
"I really do believe this is going to work out for everyone."
