Centers not just for shopping anymore

Alicia Robinson

If you want to learn about vegetarian food, help out a local charity

or take in a concert, don’t head for your local community center. Hit

the mall instead.

Shopping centers are hosting all sorts of events these days, and

people are using them as gathering places to satisfy social

proclivities along with -- or sometimes instead of -- consumer

desires.

“We’ve been organizing these events since day one,” said Julie

Shumaker, marketing director for The Camp and The Lab, eclectic and

lifestyle-based shopping venues in Costa Mesa.

The year at both centers is sprinkled with happenings such as a

dog fashion show and an Earth Day celebration. Through this month,

The Camp is offering the “life series,” including free introductory

scuba and mountaineering classes and Saturday bike rides. The idea

was to create a community free events for customers, Shumaker said.

“That way, they could come and get involved and get a sense of

connecting with The Camp, with The Lab, with the culture,” she said.

For some retailers, special events can make their registers ring.

Since opening in 2002, Crystal Cove Promenade is just now filling

all its store spaces, but people are starting to discover the center,

in part through events like Summer Nights at the Cove, an August

event that included live music and children’s activities.

“The first night, it [attracted people] just because no one had

really seen it, so we had a lot of people come down,” said Sintrell

Ryder, a sales associate at All the Rage Baby, a children’s clothing

store at Crystal Cove Promenade. “Overall, it brought a lot more

people than we normally see at that time.”

Shopping center events can be a boost for retailers, but they

aren’t always focused on spending. Retail heavyweights South Coast

Plaza and Fashion Island host a variety of charity events each year.

“Really, we don’t need to drive traffic,” South Coast Plaza

Marketing Director Debra Gunn Downing said. “We get over 23 million

visitors annually, so our events are designed both as a complement to

our business but also often to support a community organization.”

They’re more sophisticated than the malls that were 1980s teen

hangouts, and shopping centers today are functioning as places for

the community to gather. Fashion Island’s annual Christmas tree

lighting can attract as many as 10,000 people, said Laura Davis,

Fashion Island marketing director.

“It almost becomes like a town center of sorts,” she said. “People

come here and they know we have these signature events every year,

and it’s safe, it’s beautiful, and they have a great time.”

Shopping centers are filling the void in communities left when

people are too busy to join a club or make other long-term

commitments, UC Irvine marketing professor Mary Gilly said.

“For some people, it’s replacing the church,” she said. “This kind

of fits in with today’s lifestyle of events rather than

relationships.”

With the popularity of online shopping that caters to people’s

utilitarian needs, shopping centers can distinguish themselves by

offering an experience, she said.

An experience is certainly what they get at Liburdi’s Scuba at The

Camp, which offers a free kids’ scuba class on Sunday afternoons

through September.

“We enable people to go in the water and see what scuba diving is

like,” Liburdi’s co-owner Cara Sherman said. “It’s an outreach

program, a way for us to introduce people to our sport.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.