By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer

If you are young or young-looking, be prepared to show your identification at more than 40 malls around the country, including two in South Carolina.

Parental escort policies have become more prevalent in the nation’s malls in the past several years, the International Council of Shopping Centers reported. The New York-based shopping center trade organization lists 43 out of 1,100 U.S. shopping malls as carriers of the policy, which varies from mall to mall.

Some malls require escorts for youths 16 and younger, and others restrict teenagers 18 and younger. Most malls with escort policies require that teens be escorted by a parent or guardian who is 21 or older. Some malls have the restrictions in place every night while others impose the policy only on Fridays and Saturdays. At malls that have the policy, teens are required to show identification with proof of age to security guards posted at mall entrances.

So far, Charleston’s shopping malls haven’t installed the restrictions.

“It’s becoming more and more popular in markets that feel they need it,” said Leigh Burnett, marketing director at Citadel Mall. “They’re not saying they don’t want these kids, they’re just saying they want them to come in with their parents. Sometimes the kids are there and it’s the sheer numbers that put people off. Sometimes people get nervous. What they’re trying to do is create a more family friendly environment.”

Not every mall in a company’s portfolio may be affected by the policy, said ICSC spokeswoman Patrice Duker. CBL & Associates Properties, which owns both Citadel Mall and Northwoods Mall, has a teen escort policy at its Columbia Place Mall on Two Notch Road in Columbia even though it does not have the policy at its Charleston malls.

“We certainly have not even considered that policy here. We feel we do not need that,” Burnett said.

Charles Gwinn, general manager of Columbia Place Mall, said the mall put its parental escort policy in place in April 2004 after noting an increase in loitering and a number of behavioral incidents involving teens.

“It was gone into with a great deal of thought, and with our particular situation, it was the best course of action,” Gwinn said. “It’s been incredibly successful.”

Columbia Place management met with local law enforcement and community leaders and also interviewed young people prior to putting the policy into effect.

“Young people are very important to our industry and we value them as customers, not only in the present but in the future,” Gwinn said. “No young person is prohibited from being on the property. The policy just sets the terms and conditions by which you can be on the property.”

The policy is in effect after 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at Columbia Place and requires anyone under the age of 18 to be escorted by a parent or guardian who is 21 or older.

Leslie Riley, marketing manager at Northwoods Mall, said she watched a video depicting the need for parental escort policies during a recent roundtable meeting for CBL’s area mall managers.

“I’ve been in malls that definitely need it and have it; we’re just not at that point,” Riley said. “Teens are a good consumer base, but I guess the ones that cause the problems are not the ones that are spending money. They’re the ones hanging out at the mall and not doing anything.”

For many retailers, the teen shopper is a favorite customer, so shopping venues are careful about how and when they place restrictions.

Teen market research firm TRU, formerly known as Teen Research Unlimited, pegged teenage spending at $179 billion last year, an all-time high. While there have been a few dips in teen spending since 1997, sometimes as a reflection of the economy at the time and sometimes not, teens spent $57 billion more in stores in 2006 than they did nine years ago.

Teens spend most of their money on food, said Rob Callender, TRU’s trends director.

“It kind of makes sense, because these teens are growing real quickly and their bodies are going through calories at an amazing clip,” Callender said.

Other segments that profit from teen wallets are entertainment, electronics and fashion apparel, he said. Teens can focus their spending in stores because they don’t have any other place to spend it.

“They don’t have a lot of responsibilities,” Callender said. “They’re not big into saving. Every once in a while you’ll find an exceptional teen who’s very conscientious about putting money away for college, but most, if not all, money teens take in they tend to spend almost immediately. Their idea of saving is socking something away for a bigger-ticket purchase.”

Teens are the recession-proof customer, Burnett said.

“One hundred percent of their income is disposable, when you think about it,” she said. “They’re not sporting a mortgage and a car payment. They’re out to spend.”

Teens get their income from a variety of places as opposed to most adults, who usually depend upon a single paycheck. Some teens work and most get money and gift certificates from relatives for birthdays and other occasions, Duker said.

Parental escort policies exempt teens that are employed in malls, Duker said, and most department stores are not under mall policies because they own their sites. Movie theaters also are not subject to the policies because they usually have direct access. But shopping malls, while open to the public, are private property and can set their own rules.

“They have rights to set rules and regulations to ensure that the overall atmosphere is conducive to all their customer bases,” Duker said.

The first parental escort policy was installed almost a decade ago at the 520-store Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.

“The reason these policies have been instituted is that there have been a number of ongoing incidents of teens just acting out of control, being very rowdy and rambunctious and deterring other shoppers from coming to shop on Friday and Saturday nights,” Duker said. “So the mall has to think of all its consumer bases, whether that be teens or baby boomers or seniors. They’re open for everybody and have to take into account how all their consumers are going to feel.”

Some centers have seen sales increases during the times, mainly weekends, when parental escort policies are in place, Duker said. The policies mean the mall can’t be used as a babysitter, but can still be used by teen shoppers as long as older relatives or guardians escort them.

Citadel Mall rarely has problems with teen shoppers and considers them valuable customers, Burnett said.

“We have a number of stores that are targeted to the teen audience,” she said. “They are longtime customers, in our opinion. They come as teenagers and we want them to come forever.”

Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.

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