Photo: Westfield
Do Malls Need Curfews For Minors?
Garden State Plaza, the second largest mall in New Jersey, has become the latest shopping center to restrict access by minors due to unruly behavior.
Beginning April 28, the mall’s Parental Guidance Policy will require visitors under the age of 18 on Fridays and Saturdays after 5:00 p.m. to be accompanied by an adult at least 21 years old.
Wesley Rebisz, senior general manager at Garden State Plaza, told NorthJersey.com about the teens, “They’re being unruly, violating code of conduct, which can include running through the property in large groups, fighting and putting it on TikTok, basically disrupting business and making it uncomfortable for our everyday customers.”
On April 18, The Fashion District in downtown Philadelphia began banning anyone under 18 from entering the mall without an adult chaperone any day after 2 p.m., extending a weekend curfew. The change followed an incident earlier in the month when the Philadelphia police were called in to disperse large crowds of juveniles and an officer was injured.
Baltimore’s Mall in Columbia and Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, CT, began instituting weekend youth escort policies earlier this year.
In 2022, minor-curfew policies arrived at Mississippi’s Vicksburg Mall, Pittsburgh’s The Mall at Robinson, Parks Mall in Arlington, TX, Foothills Mall in Maryville, TX, and Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga, NY.
In a recent Facebook post, the Vicksburg Mall said, “We will be pressing charges on the kids trespassing under the age limit and also parents that dropped them off!”
In 2021, youth-escort policies arrived at Concord Mills in Concord, NC; Virginia Beach’s Lynnhaven Mall, Orland Square in Orland Park, IL; Syracuse’s Destiny USA; and Town & Country Shopping Center in Kettering, OH.
Some malls have long had teen chaperone policies although it’s unknown how pervasive they are.
A New York Times article from 1996 noted that The Mall of America had become one of the nation’s first shopping centers to impose curfews on unchaperoned teenagers while noting the policy “touches on many serious social issues: safety, race relations, parental responsibility and civil liberties.”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Have youth disturbances at malls and shopping centers grown more severe recently? Are you for or against mall policies requiring minors to be accompanied by adults?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Georganne Bender
Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking
Bob Phibbs
President/CEO, The Retail Doctor
Malls are private property so it is up to the owners and retailers to establish whatever policy they believe is suitable with regard to minors. While only a minority of visitors may be causing this issue, malls want to ensure their spaces are pleasant to shop and are free from disruption and unruliness.
A mall is not a set for a TikTok video. People with money want to be lost in spending money, not afraid for their safety.
I suspect that disturbances haven’t grown more severe, just more visible. It’s probably more likely that the introduction of social media has magnified the perception that these disturbances have grown but the actual data might show otherwise. After all, what teenagers are hanging out in malls? Is that still “a thing?” Unfortunately mall policies are required, should be instituted and, more importantly, should be enforced. However malls are no different than other public places, like theme parks, where the need to assure the safety of guests should be a priority. The key is the data; are the youth targeted by these policies actually the culprits? It’s a shame we need such policies but that’s an entirely different article.
We’ve had two weekends of teenage mayhem in popular shopping areas of downtown Chicago. It doesn’t feel safe and it is affecting businesses in the area because people are afraid to visit.
The bottom line is shoppers need to feel safe when visiting a mall. If curfews and increased security will help then I am all for it.
I agree… “If curfews and increased security will help, then I am all for it.” But now think about all the places you go today that have security that never had it when you were growing up.
Gene,
We also can’t forget that the presence of “effective security” – whatever that does or doesn’t mean – is enough to make some people feel uncomfortable in and of itself. After all, if a place requires visible and active security, it probably really isn’t all that safe.
YIKES! I never thought of that. “If a place requires visible and active security, it probably really isn’t all that safe.” Suddenly, the problem is even bigger than I concluded.
This is so sad. I grew up about three miles from the Garden State Plaza. When I was a teen, it wasn’t unusual to go to the mall to meet with friends or hang out. It had become our Main Street.
I can’t even imagine the descriptions in today’s discussion. They are out of my realm of reality. If this is happening, and I don’t doubt it, we have a HUGE problem with our American culture. What is most disturbing is that I am depending on young people to make the world better.
Curfews are unfortunate, and so are locked cases holding infant formula and shampoo. Companies have to protect themselves.
Social media + one-upsmanship + public venue = a need for new boundaries. It’s unfortunate, but shoppers and retailers shouldn’t have to deal with that kind of overstepping behavior.
If this is truly so disruptive, it must be stopped and gotten under control. That said, I certainly hope the controls would be strict and fair. After all, one thing to keep in mind is we are dealing with future customers. This is a serious situation that demands action. I agree with policies that say minors must be accompanied by adults. Just remember, toddy’s minors will be tomorrow’s adult customers–be careful.
Will curfews solve the problem, or is the problem much deeper than curfews can solve?
My experience has been with the Mall of America, down the road from my home. They were the first to institute a curfew in the evenings. It’s not particularly onerous. Unescorted minors under 16 have to be with someone 21 or older in the evenings and during the holidays.
Has the policy reduced crime and incidents at the mall? I don’t think to the degree the mall operators expected. Shockingly not all retail crime is committed by the 10-to-15-year-old set. What this has done is created an environment where shoppers see less free-range kids, and they make assumptions about crime.
The real success of the MOA has been its high-profile security team and its aggressive incident tracking and reporting. That, more than curfews, has contributed to the safety of visitors and employees. The curfew feels like it’s more for show.
All the MOA incidents I can think of have either been among 18-25 year olds, or adults with underlying issues who should not have been allowed to be in public. Agree with the “security theater” diagnosis.
I am for any policy that supports safe public spaces, and I would raise the accompanying age to at least 25. Why would anyone want to shop at a mall where kids are running around, getting in fights, videotaping their exploits, etc.?
As with many issues this one has many layers–the malls used to be a place where kids hung out but what was missing “back in the good old days” was the phone, connected to social media, and a camera. So my (simplistic?) view of this issue is the “goofing around” part of the hanging out equation has gotten a lot more reckless, more violent, more criminal, fueled by technology. Add to that (in many cases) the total absence of authority and you have situations like this one. Another sad commentary on our society in general.
Malls are private property. Mall owners know what’s best for their business. The parental escort policy which disallows kids from using the mall as a hangout could be a suitable solution to the recurring problems of unruly kids violating codes of conduct, running through the property in large groups and fighting, etc.
A minority of visitors may be causing this issue, while most of them bring in more business because they buy, spend money, and promote the malls. The mall management will have to come up with a security and screening system like lot of other places such as airports, clubs, golf courses, etc. The solution should be to keep the troublemakers out.
I agree with John Lietsch, the problem is increased visibility. Generations of teenagers have hung out in packs in malls looking churlish, bored, and vaguely menacing to adults — or at doing their best to look menacing. Yes social media has amped up certain antisocial behaviors, and those behaviors shouldn’t be tolerated, but part of being a teen is trying to bug adults. As to policies requiring “adult” supervision, it seems to me that a 21 year old is a lot closer to the TikTok generation than a 40 year old, so hanging with an older brother, sister, friend, etc., is no guarantee of Emily Post-style behavior. In fact, it has the potential to make things worse. What we are looking at here is a cultural problem, not one that magically disappears on a specific birthday, and culture is a big rock to push uphill. You can lock down the products and lock up the offenders but you can’t turn back the clock. Social media is not going away which means organized stupid and dangerous behaviors are not going away. Overly-indulgent parenting is also not going anywhere and parents that believe their son and/or daughter can do no wrong aren’t exactly the best allies in this fight. So the longer term question is, will contemporary culture and mores kill the mall? I think the jury is still out on that one.
Malls shouldn’t have to be babysitters. Kids have always hung out at malls, but social media and the need to stand out from the crowd has absolutely escalated the level of visibility of bad behavior and disruption to shopping.
I would describe this as a last resort. OTOH, it’s an excellent way to kill off malls all together, as people who were once under 18 – which is presumably everyone – will remember they were treated as criminals.
Social media platforms have created new ways for most good kids under 18 to instantly attract dozens of friends to gather and have pure fun. Unfortunately it also means a small minority also use it to test authority, cause disruption, and immediately make public places dangerous.
If our cities and suburbs don’t have enough police to respond, if some parents are absent or duped, and if malls only have enough security for isolated incidences, what are they supposed to do? Curfew is likely the only option at this point.
A good number of industry’s Shopping Malls are more than 50 years old already and attract more than their fair share of meandering mall walkers and withered window shoppers. Rather than banning youths from malls, the owners of such “assets” should push their Marketing teams to develop programs that engage youths.. perhaps even recognise Social Media posts that add value to the Centre’s own Social Media marketing efforts and those of its Retailers. If individual centres need more security.. take the hit and put on more Security.. but the industry will apply blanket curfews to Minors at its own peril.
People want to feel safe when they’re shopping, so if malls are noticing these types of disruptions, then it’s a sad necessity to implement curfews. It’s unfortunate for the mall stores, who may not get as much Gen Z/Gen Alpha exposure and dollars as they would like.