Plans for a 16-screen movie theater at the Maine Mall, where a Filene’s store once anchored its own section, has raised more than a few eyebrows. Featuring stadium seating and other modern amenities, the movie palace will also remove some 200 parking spaces at the mall.
With eight screens in Clark’s Pond and 16 in Westbrook, the mall addition will locate a total of 40 in the area. As the lads in the back room are saying, that’s one heck of a lot of expensive popcorn!
Erasing 200 parking spaces may not be a cutting thing in the money-making scheme of mall business, but it will have a profound impact on mall traffic. There are those, too, who’ve already stated that if mall customers are forced to walk further because of diminished parking, they probably need the exercise anyway. Another comment has been that such movie proliferation is no more needed than a foot of wind-driven snow at the morning commute. The impact on Christmas shopping is obvious.
General Growth Properties, the management firm of the Maine Mall is one of the top mall and shopping business leaders in the country, having more than 200 such operations in their fold. As in all other such endeavors, money is the driving factor and traffic concerns only a byproduct.
Traffic at the Maine Mall is thick, eased to some extent by construction under way or proposed. Traffic within the mall parking area is hectic and dangerous, not to be abrogated or improved by the addition of a 16-screen movie theater. Any large mall in the country faces identical problems. As vehicle traffic increases, pedestrian passage becomes more hazardous. And in too many instances, prominent stop signs are ignored.
Rather than a multi-screen movie thing, there are those who bemoan the loss to the mall of CVS/Pharmacy. A sit-down restaurant, too, would balance the mix. The Food Court serves its purpose for what it is, but a full-service restaurant, at an alternate location, would fill the bill.
There are a variety of eateries in the mall perimeter, outside the mall itself. What’s needed is a sit-down spot where the customer, perhaps encumbered by results of shopping, can enjoy a more leisurely meal. Taken individually, the various restaurants surrounding the mall itself chew into mall parking places themselves, adding import to those 200 spaces scuttled so we can go to the movies.
Not everything about today’s shopping mall pleases all customers. The larger the store, the less effective customer service. Decreased numbers of cash registers at anchor stores has vexed many shoppers, and fewer employees on the floor narrow the availability of customer assistance. But I would wager, in the spirit of making money, such steps fall under the guise of “doing business.” Cluttered aisles are an increased nuisance now prevalent more so than only through the bust and boom of Christmas shopping. It’s fortunate that most clerks, or now known as “sales assistants,” are courteous and helpful, despite diminished numbers.
Shopping plazas, those neighborhood-friendly assemblies of stores having ample parking, retain their attractiveness for the shopper. Sometimes, it’s much easier to walk from the parking lot to a favored store than pound up and down endless corridors of the huge mall. The plaza’s laid-back friendliness is more like “old times.” Here you’ll find that greatest of near-perfect customer service – the small, friendly hardware store. For some reason or other, the men and women selling hardware know their product, what it is, what it will do and where to find it (I had to get that one in here).
Maine Mall does, however, have one group of employees doing an outstanding day-by-day job – mall security. Those involved in this needed and available service are there in times of emergency, ready to assist in every situation.
Movies, anyone?
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