Dozens of shopping malls and other public places across the country have implemented a policy that requires teenagers under the age of eighteen years to be accompanied by guidance above 21 years and parents to the mall after 4.00 pm on Friday and Saturday. The policy restricts the time teenagers can go to the mall alone and also prevents teenagers from walking in a group within the mall (Shenk 5).
Several people have argued that this policy is babysitting and it is not good since it violates the rights of teenagers. It is also dictatorial and can cost malls a lot of customers. Managers drawn from several malls argue that the policy is necessary to avoid incidences where kids use the mall as a place for hangouts. Though the policy has reduced the traffic in many Malls across the country, several managers agreed that allowing teenagers to access the Mall anytime can be problematic and, therefore, it is necessary to implement such a policy (Meredith 12). However, the policy is timely and it is important to be implemented fully because it will allow Malls to reduce the number of teenagers hanging out and hence reduce unnecessary traffic, the policy improve the image of the mall and therefore, it is good for business.
Studies have shown that minors below eighteen years usually hang out in Malls after school and during weekends with nothing much to do. Several minors come to the mall just to relax and meet friends around the movie theatres. This creates unnecessary traffic, which makes a mall look like a hanging place for teenagers, and therefore, this scares away serious business people and old clients from such a mall (Schaefer 5). Therefore, the restriction policy will reduce the unnecessary traffic caused by minors and also create enough space and make the mall look spotless. According to Tri-County Mall in Cincinnati, teenagers use the mall as a place for socializing, which affects businesses within the mall and the mall itself. It scares investors since an investor will imagine that the mall is for hanging out or a dance hall because when teenagers are in groups, they make noise and often become unruly, likely to affect businesses within the mall. Therefore, it is important to control the traffic and ensure that we minimize the number of teens within the mall at a particular time (Meredith 2).
However, some people argue that the policy is uncalled for and should be abolished since it violates the rights of teens and also denies teens the right to meet and socialize at the malls. Most parents opposed the idea and argued that teens are no longer driven to school, can take care of themselves, and can come back home. Hence, the idea of walking a seventeen-year-old to the mall is a punishment to parents and should be allowed (Shenk 10). The policy is also likely to affect other businesses within the mall, such as clothing stores where teenagers usually hang out and end up doing some shopping as well. For instance, a study has shown that since the policy became active in New York, teen clothing stores have registered a decline in sales, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. Though teens are part of customers and they make a percentage of targeted customers buy some shops within the malls, the presence of many teens make the mall untidy and usually send away inventors and old customers are the high spending and therefore, the policy is a long overdue.
In conclusion, the policy is necessary since it is good for business and will also help address unruly behaviour, noise, and other unwanted behaviour from the mall. Studies have indicated that teen curfew can improve business since older customers and investors would be willing to spend time in the mall where the noise, bad behaviour, and not crowded rather than a crowded place and therefore, the policy is likely to increase business for the malls.
Works Cited
Meredith, Robyn. “Big Mall’s Curfew Raises Questions Of Rights and Bias.”
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/04/us/big-mall-s-curfew-raises-questions-of-rights-and-bias.html (2014): 1-10.
Schaefer, Kayleen. “New Policies Exterminating Teen Mall Rats.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shopping-malls-increasingly-putting-restrictions-teens/story?id=11701470 (2010): 2-15.
Shenk, Julia. “Carousel Center policy says Friday and Saturday night shoppers must be 18 plus.”
Daily Orange (2018): 2-15.
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