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Playground-enhanced malls: good for economy, bad for teens Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 By Micki Bare Competition with superstores is the first reason I conjure up in favor of playgrounds in the middle of malls. Superstores with food, clothes and electronics at prices that can't be beat may seem a convenient way to shop, but they do not offer much entertainment for young children forced to tag along. Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of distractions for bored kiddies in a superstore. There's the electronics department in which children tall enough to reach the controls can play demo versions of the hottest new video games for hours. Children waiting for their turn on the video game demo can watch the latest movie on multiple flat screens - some in high definition. In the toy section, there might be a loose ball to bounce down the puzzle aisle or an unsecured tricycle to ride up the board-game aisle. On a really good day, there might even be a radio controlled airplane inexplicably unwrapped and loaded with fresh batteries. But time on the demo game can be scarce at times. And what if the high def movie of the day doesn't appeal to your brood? There are times when toy aisles offer little more than an array of tightly packaged, neatly organized new toys. What is a restless child to do? What are the parents of the restless child to do? Enter the playground-enhanced mall experience offering more fun in an area specially designed for play. Maybe competition with superstores was not the motivation. Maybe the playgrounds are being built to offset the calorie-packed food courts. Truth be told, since the inception of fast food we Americans have been tipping the scales. And kids are no exception. Parents who eat value meals have kids who eat fun meals. "Value" and "fun" are merely new ways to say it's full of preservatives, calories and cholesterol. We say we're going to walk off the extra calories and fat by shopping another hour or so longer. Unfortunately, our paychecks fall short of the ability to shop off a burger, fries, soft drink and gourmet cookie. Since the kids are too tired to shop after a big lunch, the family usually calls it a day once the chocolate shakes are consumed and heads home to watch "American Idol." Enter the playground-enhanced mall experience offering more activity located just a few feet away from the greasy slice of pizza. I could be way off-base. Maybe competition with superstores and the negative impact of food courts had absolutely nothing to do with mall playgrounds. Maybe the real reason behind the phenomenon is directly related to marketing demographics. Are adults making their own retail decisions? Are teens the driving force behind retail sales? Or could it be that the reason Americans buy so many electronics, clothes, jewelry and half-caf, skinny mocha lattes has everything to do with the influence of the youngest generation? There could be spreadsheets out there that demonstrate a preschooler-driven marketing force. Mall people could be privy to the fact that the type of blouse a mom buys or the brand of hammer a dad prefers is directly related to the interests and happiness of their youngster. Maybe there is a direct correlation between child entertainment while shopping and amount of dollars spent on a shopping trip. Enter the playground enhanced mall experience. More fun for the little ones makes for enthusiastic adult customers translating into additional dollars spent. Then again, usually the most obvious answer is the correct one. Clearly, mall playgrounds have evolved out of the mall-walking trend. Retired persons walk malls before the stores open their gates. Working persons walk malls during the lunch hour. It seems lots of people, spanning multiple generations, walk the malls rather than frequent the city parks. Can you blame them? The weather is always favorable in the mall. No rain. No snow. No wind. The terrain is always consistent in the mall. No rocks. No hills. No unfortunate pet droppings. Where there are adults walking, there should be kids playing. Therefore, mall playgrounds were inevitable. Enter the playground-enhanced mall experience. More playing for the kids fits perfectly with adults putting in a lap or two. The reasons, whatever they are, behind the mall playground fad are truly not important. The real issue here is the impact that playgrounds will have on all those teenagers who live to hang out at the mall. Now that grandma is doing laps around the playground where Junior and his kindergarten posse are climbing across the stone bridge toward the slide, the mall is no longer a cool place for that independent teenager. ------- Micki Bare is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro, N.C., and author of the book, "Relative Expressions." She lives in Asheboro with her husband and three children. Her e-mail address is mickibare@inspiredscribe.com. |
