Malls Becoming Entertainment Centers Movies, Other Amusements Boost Shopper Traffic, Sales

It’s getting harder to tell what’s the biggest draw of a big regional shopping mall - the stores or the entertainment.

When mall developers began adding multiplex movie theaters and food courts to their plans, they helped change in the public’s mind what shopping centers were all about. You didn’t go there just for a shopping spree; you went there to have a great time.

Many malls have video game parlors, others have carousels, and the biggest mall in the country, Minnesota’s Mall of America, has its own theme park.

Entertainment, in particular movies, has helped retail sales increase significantly at shopping centers. Sales and shopper traffic have been up in the double digits at Mission Valley Mall in San Diego since AMC Entertainment opened a 20-screen theater last December, according to Scott Turcotte, the mall’s general manager.

The mall, which has 100 stores including four “anchors,” big retailers including Robinson’s-May and Montgomery Ward, has extended shopping hours to accommodate moviegoers who start arriving at 10 a.m. and keep coming until midnight, Turcotte said.

At his mall, many of the stores that are part of chains became top performers in their companies, “and it’s all due to the opening of the theater,” he said.

Turcotte also noted that a big movie hit such as “Independence Day” has a particularly big effect on sales.

The movies are becoming a godsend to mall operators in another way.

Big department stores have closed due to bankruptcies and mergers, leaving malls with empty, gaping spaces to fill. So mall operators are using some of the vacancies to install movieplexes and give everyone in the shopping center a boost.