The Daily Mall Reader: Mall as teen hangout
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(Excerpt) BOSTON — Speeding through the corridors of the South Shore Plaza outside Boston, a pack of baby-faced teen boys clad in jeans and baseball caps draw angry stares from store clerks and customers. But they don't seem to care: They're hip, they're loud — and they like getting in trouble.Hanging out at the mall for teens is as traditional as Friday night football games or the annual prom. It's an escape from chores at home and a chance to flirt and cut loose under artificial lights.
But some malls are saying, "No more." In an attempt to cut back on rowdy behavior and loitering that many establishments say has become unbearable in recent years, malls are implementing policies that require teens to be accompanied by adults after certain hours, effectively putting an end to a weekend routine long memorialized in classic flicks like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Mallrats."
Read the full article here.
posted by Keith @ 3/30/2007
3 Comments:
What is this thing about the ever increasing control of teenagers in the US? First curfews and now this.
Teenagers have to go somewhere. And if there are no youth centers, etc..., they hang out at malls. Which is definitely preferable to hanging out on the street or in parks.
No matter what happens, there will always be teenagers that will cause problems, even though they are few and far between. Even then, the business nature of malls have changed considerably today from back in the 80s. Malls were originally designed to be community centers, meaning people can go there and shop, have a bite to eat or just kill time. It's not the same today. Ever since large mall REITs came to existence, their purpose is to make a quick buck. Special events that used to take place at malls ever so frequently have been dwindling since they no longer want to focus on the community as a whole, but on the market potential of the community to see who will shop there.
The mall where I live is pretty notorious as a teen hangout during the weekends, but even after complaints from some stores and the security guards, the management won't allow an escort policy because they understand that kids will have nowhere else to go if such a policy goes into effect, not to mention that crime will rise because more kids will be roaming around the streets and the drug usage will only get worse. I think malls need to add more attractions that cater to teens like a skatepark or something like GameWorks, which is basically an all ages Dave & Busters.
Wonder if the Westfield location in town pulls any stunt themselves? Not that it matters but it's nice thinking guys half my age have a place to go when it's not out on the streets. Seems like more often we're just festering an even bigger pile of latch key kids these days.
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