Just the other day I went for lunch at Applebee’s at our local mall. I expressed to my longtime friend who was with me, that it had been years since I had been to the mall, and as we drove around the circumference of the huge lot, I noticed how dismal it looked with all of the old thriving stores such as Sears, now gone out of business. Being part of the Quick-Seat Chair team, naturally, I thought about an article, Could Mall Walking Save America’s Malls? that was written a few years back that suggested that the throngs of mall-walkers all over the country and the mall-walking programs offered by the malls, would be sufficient to help keep malls thriving.
I did notice, as I drove further around the back of the mall complex towards Applebee’s, that there was an amazing bit of construction going on with all new buildings. Clearly this mall wasn’t in danger of closing. In fact, it looked quite the opposite. Then, I remembered that there has been a mall-walking program and group in place at this mall for decades. Could this dedicated community of people be one of the reasons why? And if so, what was it about this mall in particular that has kept it going.
What I discovered was that the mall had been open and operating since 1976 and is listed as the only fully indoor mall in Ocean County, NJ. It is conveniently and centrally located and welcomes walkers into a safe, environment an hour and a half before stores open. It was one of the first malls to ban smoking. Clearly it is doing something right according to the 56 page CDC Mall Walking Manual published in 2015. On page 3 of the guide, which we have addressed in a previous blog, it expresses the benefits of mall walking as possessing “benches for sitting,” as one of the comprising factors for a successful mall-walking experience. We couldn’t agree more. However, we have also made this other important observation that other large malls are not entirely connected indoors and although benches may be plentiful in the main hub of the mall to accommodate typical walking traffic, there may not be a sufficient amount of seating to accommodate groups who walk together, especially when the mall-walking program includes an exercise program, which our research finds is not uncommon in malls in malls that have fitness or wellness centers. Some mall designs include long corridors that bridge the distance between one large department store and another and there are often absolutely no sitting arrangements along these pathways or leading up long corridors to restroom areas. There are also rarely sitting areas in the outer areas of the restrooms.
We’ve done our homework and although you could say that we’re partial, we clearly see the need for more Quick-Seat Chairs, which fit snugly up against a wall and out of the way. Nothing to trip over in order to provide even more safety. They’re also designed to meet Infection Control standards. Quick-Seat Chairs are not prone to the type of damage done to wooden benches requiring regular replacement. Nor do Quick-Seat Chairs encourage loitering or climbing, rather than just the short restful oasis of a temporary place to sit. We encourage you to think about forming your own mall-walking group, and encouraging your local mall to host a mall-walking program if they don’t already do so. We encourage you to visit our Ambassador’s page and become one of our Quick-Seat Chair Ambassadors. If mall-walking programs are at least a partial and safe solution to wellness, your local mall may just be very happy that you let them know. Here’s the guide that we provided last year and that we still feel may help in the crusade, one Quick-Seat Chair at a time, while saving our country’s malls one mall at a time.
Quick-Seat Chairs were designed to be where and when you need them, to be sturdy and dependable and to allow secure seating where one would least expect it. But when one does, a Quick-Seat Chair can seem like a dream come true.
Quick-Seat Chair. Temporary Seating That Closes Itself
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