Strategies for managing teens at mall
When it comes to shopping malls, teenagers will be teenagers. What's a mall manager to do?
Actually, there is quite a bit you can do from blaring weird music, installing more lighting and providing sturdy, vandal-resistant steel benches.
Let's start with the weird music. One of the great shopping center ironies in life is that a mall wants to attract teens to shop in the stores, eat in the food court and watch movies...and then it wants them to leave. Not an easy thing to accomplish. Especially when there isn't anything else in most towns to occupy a teen's time and energy.
So, to drive loitering teens away, some facilities and cities have taken extreme measures.
Take Washington, DC, for example. They tried to drive teens away from public areas with a "mosquito-sounding" device. Buzzed a shrill noise at a certain frequency that mainly only young people could hear. Problem was, many other people including very young kids or teens on their way to work or the bus, could hear this annoying sound as well. There's another issue. Irritating people with audio deterrents like that is probably illegal.
Other facilities have tried playing music they know kids won't like. Classical music or opera for example. Blasting Mozart's Flute Concerto No.1 in G Major. Followed by Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 2. You get the picture - teens are certainly not going to enjoy those tunes.
Oh, it gets better.
A town in California attempted to push malcontents away from public places by playing bird sounds. They positioned nearly 100 speakers to play the sounds of robins, wrens and blackbirds all belting out aviary hits - basically feathered versions of Beyonce and Taylor Swift.
Studies show that listening to offensive sounds can actually have a neurological effect on the brain. While a song you like can push up the production of dopamine that is responsible for pleasure, a song you hate can suppress production of that chemical as well. Puts someone in a bummer type of mood.
Problem is, many people like bird sounds. Even teens. Not such a deterrent after all.
Other strategies include making sure there is plenty of lighting. And security cameras. One store even proposed putting a pathway right past a security camera so everybody entering the area knows very clearly they are being recorded on camera and their photo is one click away from the police department.
When teens hang out (border line loitering), they are no longer shopping, watching movies or eating. At that point, they usually look for a place to sit.
When they sit, even the best behaving teen can create a mess. They spill shakes, drop ketchup and knock over plates.
That's why the benches they sit on need to be able to handle all this abuse. Steel benches are one option. Steel benches with straps are an even better option.
With steel strap benches, there are slats so any spilled drink (or rain for that matter) won't stay on the bench for long and will flow through the openings.
In addition, these benches can be covered with special coatings. Power coating is a finish that is electrically sprayed onto the metal benches so it adheres better than paint. This durable finish is easy to clean and retains its luster for many years, including many years of teens hanging out on them.
Another option for a protective coating is a thermoplastic finish, which is a type of plasticized coating applied to a steel bench. That coating can also be easily cleaned as well and is generally resistant to graffiti.
Because one thing you don't want is to have loyal shoppers who shop during the day but find a bunch of dirty benches from the night before.
Steel benches with the right finish can be easily cleaned and with their polished look, can actually be an elegant outdoor addition to any facility. Mounted properly into the ground, they can also remain a permanent outdoor addition to any facility.
Yes, teens will be teens. Most are good-natured. Many are just bored. Most towns don't provide alternative places for them to hang out such as community centers or skate parks.
And remember, these teens do become tomorrow's major mall customers. Then they won't just be buying a shirt for themselves, but an entire wardrobe for a family. They will also treat that entire family to dinner at the restaurants in the mall.
So, work around your younger customers. Get the right security team that knows how to build a rapport with kids. Don't allow teens to congregate in areas where it deters other shoppers. Get the right, hardy commercial site furnishings such as steel benches, that can stand up to teens while they go through this phase. At some point, those steel benches will turn into a welcome respite for them and their own teen children.
Here's an article on the weird sound strategies used by towns to drive away teenagers.