Consumers Are Still Spooked by Threats

Despite beefed-up security at malls, retail sales and traffic fell sharply in the days leading up to Halloween, reflecting eroding consumer confidence and possibly increased jitters about being in crowded public spaces.

With the government’s new warning of feared imminent terrorist attacks, Halloween day, an occasion some retailers have sought to capitalize on, is expected to be unusually quiet at shopping centers.

Some large mall operators such as General Growth Properties Inc.--which operates more than a dozen shopping centers in California--have scrapped trick-or-treat plans because of unsettling conditions after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Others are going ahead as usual, but many malls figure to be on high alert.

At Walt Disney Co.’s retail district in Anaheim, near Disneyland, green barricades ring the entrance. South Coast Plaza has extra guards on hand, and some now are patrolling the rooftops of the Costa Mesa mall. Other malls have erected concrete columns, sealed off access to air-conditioning units and trained janitors to spot signs of terrorism.

But all this has created a quandary for mall managers, who want to make people feel safer but don’t want to beef up security so much that it scares away shoppers.

“We don’t want to make people feel intimidated by security measures; we want to make them feel welcome,� said Ken Hamilton, executive vice president of IPC International in Illinois, which provides security for about 300 retail centers nationwide.

Hamilton said just about every mall has reviewed or stepped up security since the East Coast attacks. And they’re not likely to let up as the busy holiday shopping season approaches.

“Anything [retailers] do to make people feel safer is going to help their business,� said Rosemary Erickson, a security expert with Athena Research Corp. in San Diego.

Mall traffic has picked up since plunging in the week of Sept. 11. But last week, the number of shoppers nationally fell 4.5% from a year ago. And Monday--when U.S. officials alerted the public about possible terrorist attacks--traffic at malls plunged almost 9% from year-ago levels, according to RCT Systems Inc., a Chicago-based firm that tracks retail data.

A separate report Tuesday showed that chain-store sales last week dropped 1.6% from the previous week. That decline was the largest since March and exceeded the 1.4% drop in the week of the attacks, according to the report by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg.

Some analysts said the sales decline may reflect consumers opting to shop at smaller stores closer to home, rather than going to crowded public places. Such jitters are precisely what mall operators are trying to counter with visible security measures such as barricades.

General Growth Properties, which manages Northridge Fashion Center, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza and 143 other centers nationwide, is erecting steel and concrete columns at some mall entrances, mainly to keep cars from crashing into stores.

South Coast Plaza, one of the nation’s highest-grossing malls, has wooden barriers in its unloading area to discourage unauthorized vehicles and has a security guard monitoring deliveries. Patrolling the roof has become part of the center’s “ongoing surveillance,� marketing director Debra Gunn Downing said.

In Anaheim, Disney has installed about 18 barriers near the entrance of Downtown Disney, the new retail and entertainment strip next to Disneyland. On a recent afternoon, consumers hardly seemed to notice them, but Santa Ana resident Beverly Pirtle wondered what good they would do. The green plastic barricades, about 3 feet tall, are filled with water and meant to diminish vehicle impact. “For a runaway car, that’s helpful,� said the 57-year-old teacher. “For a terrorist, I don’t think so.�

Most experts agree that a mall’s ability to prevent a terrorist attack is limited, unless it’s willing to dramatically change the way it does business. Although some shopping centers have discussed measures such as using metal detectors to screen customers, most malls don’t want to make huge changes that could hurt sales. Consumers have been jittery about malls partly because of a widely circulated e-mail indicating that a mall could be targeted on Halloween, said Matt McLaughlin, a spokesman in the FBI’s Los Angeles office. The e-mail said a person’s Afghan boyfriend, who has since disappeared, told her in a letter not to take a commercial flight on Sept. 11 and to stay out of malls on Halloween.

Although an FBI investigation determined it was only a rumor, the e-mail wedged in some consumers’ minds. VioletaWest of Sacramento said she’ll stay out of malls today “to be on the safe side.�

“Everyone is telling their friends, ‘Do not shop on that day,�’ she said.

Partly because of such heightened worries, some mall operators have canceled trick-or-treat plans, an ironic turn of events.

In other years, malls have invited children to collect candy from retailers as a safe alternative to door-to-door trick-or-treating.

General Growth and Urban Retail Properties Co., the nation’s second-and third-largest mall operators, said their decision to squelch Halloween activities had nothing to do with the e-mail.

“Halloween is often associated with mischievous behavior,� said David Keating, General Growth spokesman. “And in light of [the terrorist attacks] we didn’t think it would be prudent to have that.�

Other malls, whether or not they stick with their Halloween plans, have bolstered security, including tightening communications with local police and fire departments.

The Costa Mesa Police Department, for example, says it has met with management, retailers and security guards at South Coast Plaza since Sept. 11 to review expectations and preparedness.