More Money But Less Time Spent In Malls More Product Information Shortens The Shopping Trips

Financial planner Mary Ann Linehan enjoys her own version of Turkish coffee, so when the perfect pot went on sale for $9.99 at Macy’s last week, she buzzed into the store at the King of Prussia, Pa. mall and picked one up.

“It was a really good deal,” she said. “I bought it and I left. I didn’t even walk through the store.”

Linehan, of St. Davids, Pa., definitely would not describe herself as a recreational shopper.

“I only go if I have a reason,” she said. “It’s like work to me.”

Indeed, Linehan falls way below the average for people in her age group (45 to 54) in the number of trips to the mall, the number of stores visited and the length of time she spends.

But there’s one quality that Linehan shares with other shoppers - efficiency. “I’m very focused,” she said.

Shoppers spent slightly more money at malls last year than in 1995, but they did it in less time and with more purpose, according to John Konarski, vice president of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), a trade group.

“We (consumers) know more about products, know how they are made and what they are used for,” said Konarski. “We have a lot of information behind us already. Many times in the past, we strolled around just to see what was new. Now, you can find out what is new ahead of time, and go there and buy it.”

This quest for efficiency is part of what contributes to a certain sameness in shopping malls, said Konarski, who makes no apologies for it.

Americans like to feel comfortable, he said. They like to know what they are getting, wherever they go. No surprises. If it’s french fries at McDonald’s, they derive a certain security in knowing that no matter which McDonald’s they visit, the fries will taste about the same. And if they like the taste, then they are satisfied.

“As we become more and more of a traveling society, we like that we can go anywhere, go in the mall and find something quickly,” Konarski said.

Shoppers make an average of 39 mall trips annually, shop for an average of 76 minutes, and spend $59.25 per visit, according to an ICSC study, the first in what it plans as an annual effort.

All that consuming contributed to a 5.8 percent increase in sales at shopping centers - $973.6 billion in 1996, up from $920.1 billion in 1995, the ICSC reported. Sales per square foot rose 2.9 percent.

After three or four pathetic years, last year was good for apparel, and therefore for malls, because apparel stores dominate shopping-center corridors, Konarski said.

So far, they have not kept up the pace. As of the end of April, sales were up 0.4 percent from the first four months of 1996. Konarski blamed an unseasonably cold spring. “There’s a lot of inventory out there.”

That’s good news for teen-agers such as Rose Szczesniak, 13, of Mount Airy, Pa., who will be happy to buy some of that extra inventory when it gets marked down.

“If it is my own money, I only buy things on sale,” she said.

In a statistic that should come as no surprise to anyone who has visited a mall lately, teen-agers contribute mightily to sales figures. Fervent mall-philes, teenagers come the most often (54 times a year) and stay the longest (90 minutes). They spend an average of about $40 a pop.