For teens, it's curfew time ... at the mall
Shopping centers ban unsupervised teens on Friday and Saturday nights to curb violence. Kids say: Hey, where will we hang out?
from the June 6, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Behind the curfews is the occasional violence at some shopping centers across the country – and, more common, the boisterous behavior of cliques of teens, who often scare off adult consumers. Just last month, for instance, a 14-year-old girl was slashed in the stomach during a fight at the country's premier indoor bazaar, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.
Such incidents are rare at the über-shopping center – officials say this is only the second act of violence in the past 18 months – but they weren't always so unusual. In 1995, the Mall of America reported 300 "incidents" involving youths. The following year officials there instituted one of the nation's first mall curfews. The number of altercations dropped to two.
Here in St. Louis, several malls have instituted curfews in just the past few months. The Galleria's went into effect on April 20 after a couple of fights broke out among young people last November and again in March. The Galleria's marketing manager, Jenny Koch, says the scuffles weren't the main impetus for the policy. The aim was to maintain a safe shopping experience.
Store officials here and elsewhere complain that swarms of teenagers do often make shopping seem as pleasant as a trip to the dentist. Youths dart annoyingly in and out of stores. They gather in loud clusters at the food court.
"There were so many kids around at night that no matter how many security guards and police there were, they couldn't keep them under control," says Ryan Clintsman, store manager at Hannoush Jewelers in the Jamestown Mall, another area shopping center that has imposed a teen curfew, this one at 5 p.m. "There'd be fights, and the kids wouldn't spend any money. They'd just hang out."
Teens, of course, have hung out at malls since time immemorial. It's perhaps understandable: They can't go to nightclubs or other age-restricted spots. Moreover, their numbers have risen as transportation to and from malls has improved, parents have become more relaxed about letting their kids go, and the attractions – such as multiplex cinemas – have grown.
Erika Myles, for instance, always sees a knot of young people out in front of the cinemas at the Jamestown Mall on the weekend. "It sort of takes away from the shopping experience," says the sales associate at Express, a popular teen clothing store. "They use profane language and stuff like that. It can make people uncomfortable." She, in fact, thinks parents too often use the mall as a babysitter for their children.
Many shoppers also welcome the new curfews. "Obviously teenagers are becoming unruly, and parents aren't in control of their children anymore," says Melissa Dickinson, a St. Louis resident and Galleria shopper over the cutoff age. "[The policy] makes parents more responsible for their children while they're here."
RSS feed
