Shopping for younger shoppers

Alicia Robinson

On a Friday night, it’s not unusual to find trendy twentysomethings

listening to hip hop music, drinking cocktails, and ... shopping?

South Coast Plaza already has the shopping covered, so a handful

of the shopping center’s stores have added the music and drinks in

the hope of wooing the elusive younger crowd in greater numbers.

A “block party” with music, fashion shows, hors d’oeuvres and

giveaways held Friday at South Coast Plaza was the third such event

the center has tried, and it was expected to be the most successful.

“We feel it’s a creative way to attract a younger shopper who’s

very fashion-savvy and also are customers of these stores who are

participating,” said Debra Gunn Downing, executive director of

marketing for South Coast Plaza.

While Downing said the shopping center’s stores already reach out

to young people, some store employees said they see the typical South

Coast Plaza crowd as older than 30.

“I’d say it’s a little older,” said Joseph Ramondetta, manager of

Wet Seal, a clothing store catering to women ages 17 to 25. “I’d say

it’s probably around 30ish. ... If you go to the high-end [stores],

of course, it’s much older.”

Young people like Levis store manager Maggie Jacobson are looking

for open-air shopping and fun restaurants and bars, and South Coast

Plaza doesn’t offer those things, Jacobson said.

“I think being such a high-end indoor mall, that’s not going to

attract kids,” she said.

The Levis store attracts customers from all age groups, but the

company is trying to focus on the 20-to-30 market now, so the block

party fit in with that goal, she said.

To target shoppers in their 20s and 30s for Friday’s event,

Downing sent invitations via e-mail and got responses from more than

3,500 people, she said.

“The parties have always attracted a large response, but this

time, we’ve outdone the last event,” Downing said. “The youth market

is very lucrative, but it’s very fickle. Their tastes change, [and]

they’re very hard to reach in terms of getting your message in front

of them because they don’t read the mainstream publications that you

would typically use.”

For the last block party event, stores offered music and food, and

some had live bands, said Jeannie Lindstrom, store manager at

Traffic.

“It’s a lot of fun, a lot of energy, a lot of people,” she said.

“It’s pretty much wall-to-wall people.”

Lindstrom said young people did respond to the event, and she

noticed they came back later to shop.

The 10 stores involved in Friday’s block party had plans including

disc jockeys, drinks and coupons to get people to come back later.

Store employees said they didn’t expect to make many sales Friday

night, but they thought shoppers would come back later.

Jacobson said block party-type events are exactly what the

shopping center needs to generate interest with a younger crowd.

“You need more of an atmosphere, and I think the purpose of [the

event] is trying to create that,” she said.