Big Little Malls Many Shoppers And Shopkeepers Love The Smaller Shopping Centers That Offer An Alternative To The Mega-Mall Experience

It’s peaceful, cozy and quiet. Unseasonably slow for Santa and his helper, Richard Leanard. But Leanard wouldn’t trade places with a busy elf right now.

Leanard is parked smack-dab in the middle of Franklin Park Mall with old Saint Nick. He runs Burchett Photography and has been hired by the mall to take pictures of those who want to sit on Santa’s knee.

But Santa often has no visitors.

Working at the mall provides Leanard and Santa the opportunity to reflect, think, read, maybe even balance their checkbooks if they want.

“We don’t do the volume that they do,” Leanard said, of the mega-malls. “But I don’t want to be able to do that. Here, kids can get some good quality time with Santa.”

NorthTown, the Spokane Valley Mall, a new downtown mall on the way…. just where does that leave little malls like Franklin Park and Shadle Center?

“Right where we want to be,” said Julie Borrevik of Julie’s Hallmark in the Franklin Park Mall. “People like it here because it’s easy to get in and out.”

Borrevik said the majority of her customers are repeat customers. They trust her and she trusts them.

“We’ve only taken three bad checks this year,” she said. “Last year we had four.”

Shoppers and store owners say a bigger mall doesn’t mean a better one.

At Lamont’s in the Shadle Center, shopper Jill Dolle said she enjoys the Christmas spirit even more when shopping at small malls.

“I refuse to go in the big malls this time of year on the weekends,” Dolle said, as she pushed her daughter through the department store in a stroller.

“You can’t push a stroller through Northtown without banging into somebody,” she said.

Still, Dolle admitted what small mall merchants have known since the advent of the colossal mall.

“You don’t get the same selection that you would at NorthTown,” she said.

Angela Via, Franklin Park Mall’s marketing director, said it’s difficult for the mall to compete directly with NorthTown.

NorthTown sports 170 stores to Franklin Park’s 27. But Via said the mall does offer things the biggies can’t.

“We don’t look at Northtown as direct competition,” Via said. “They have the nationals (retail outlets); here, with the exception of Hallmark and a few others, our stores are locally owned.”

Via said Franklin Park Mall shoppers tend to be older people who live near the mall. Franklin Park’s easy access also draws in a lot of men shoppers too, who don’t want to deal with the crowds, she said.

Last year, the Outback Steakhouse opened its doors at the mall. Via said the addition of that popular restaurant has helped Franklin Park’s business. It’s the only one in town.

Sharen Lee, who works at Ceramics By Dorothy, a kiosk in the mall, said most of her customers have purchased from her before.

“It’s nice working in here because you can think without the noise and crowds,” Lee said. “There’s not the hassle, hustle and bustle.”

Still, it’s Christmastime and Lee said business is slow.

“We do get called ‘The Dead Mall,”’ said Janet Kruckenberg, a Hallmark employee. “The complaint I hear is that there’s not enough of a variety of stores.”

Indeed, the small, North Side malls have seen an exodus of stores. They seem to be facing an ice age without insulation.

With the exception of a grocery store, bank and a restaurant, Shadle Center sometimes resembles a ghost town from an old-west movie.

Newberry’s and Ernst closed earlier this year after filing bankruptcy. Lamont’s is also in bankruptcy proceedings but opted to stay open. They were Shadle’s biggest stores.

In April, P2J2 Associates paid $6.6 million for the 36-year-old Shadle Center but has yet to pin down a plan for the mall.

Paul Hawkins, a P2J2 partner said he hopes to keep people like Dolle shopping at the Shadle Center.

“It will always be a neighborhood center. It’s a tremendous opportunity because it’s surrounded by houses.”

At Fairwood, these days, it might be a misnomer to call it a shopping center. Its largest occupant is the Calvary Chapel Church.

Despite big malls rising and small malls falling, Franklin Park merchants believe they will always have a niche with shoppers on the North Side.

“There are a lot of shoppers out there like me,” Leanard said. “We avoid NorthTown like the plague. I’ve been in Spokane nine years and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been in there.

“You’ve got to like being around thousands of people to enjoy going in there, especially this time of year,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 color)