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By Elliot A. Boxerbaum, MA, CPP, CSC

Securing shopping centers in the United States poses a number of challenges for developers, retail management, law enforcement, emergency responders and security professionals. During the last few years, our understanding of the security needs of retail centers and the expectations placed on security personnel have changed dramatically. At the same time, the very nature of the retail experience is also changing.

Security professionals serving retail centers are faced with maintaining a difficult balance between providing reasonable, appropriate levels of security programming and ensuring customers have minimal obstructions to their shopping experience. A key objective of this process is to ensure that customers are safe and “feel safe” in their surroundings. Concerns about crimes such as theft, assault, sexual assault, robbery and gang activity must now be meshed with programming in response to terrorist concerns, critical incident/emergency planning and coordination with community law enforcement and emergency response organizations.

Sometimes, it may be difficult to immediately discern the type of situation being dealt with, such as the recent incidents involving individuals committing assaults with automatic weapons at Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City and Westroads Mall in Omaha, Ne. These incidents were not terrorist attacks; however, law enforcement and security responders could not take this for granted. Retail centers, whether they are strip, lifestyle or hybrid centers, shopping or outlet malls, or downtown department stores, are soft targets. New security and law enforcement techniques, including “active shooter” protocols need to be developed and drilled.

As consumers begin to embrace hybrid and lifestyle center retail developments, security professionals will have new and even more complex challenges.

The Rise of the Hybrid Center
Hybrid centers are exciting, upscale venues designed to create a very different atmosphere from that of the traditional shopping mall. These venues often include a “town center” environment reminiscent of “Small Town, USA” with streets bisecting shopping areas, on-street parking, welcoming storefronts, and a high level of customer-venue interaction. In addition to retail shops, most hybrid centers also offer upscale restaurants, fitness clubs, entertainment facilities, bookstores, and other tenants who, when combined, provide customers with a “place to be” — not just a “place to shop.” The hybrid center concept, while relatively new, is already reshaping the retail experience.

The “hybrid center” concept is not nearly as well defined as that of the “shopping mall.” Although in most instances these centers are smaller than traditional malls, this is not always the case. Lifestyle centers average about 500,000 square feet in size, but can range from as small as 150,000 to well over 1.2 million square feet and typically do not have an anchor store. The average enclosed mall is about 800,000 square feet. Hybrid centers may be similar, may or may not have anchor stores, and may include both enclosed and open-air center features. For example, Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, a hybrid venue, boasts two anchor stores (Macy’s and Nordstrom’s), a 6,200 seat, 30-auditorium cinema, four parking garages and almost 1.7 million square feet of leasable space. It is bordered on the north and west by Easton Market, a power center with Target, Lowe’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods and many other “big box” retailers. Apartments and condominiums have been built on the south side of the venue. The immediate area also includes a Hilton Hotel, Residence Inn, Trader Joe’s, many fast food and upscale restaurants, and Lexus, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and CarMax dealerships.

Tightly integrated venues such as Easton are on the rise. They include all the features of lifestyle centers along with movie theaters, apartments, Class A office space above the retail spaces and in multi-story buildings, condominiums, parking structures, and 24-hour fitness clubs, among other amenities.

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