Being a retailer is hard enough, add cross border shopping and now online shopping, the cards seem stacked against locally owned stores and even national ones. With that in mind, the Station Mall tackles those threats head on to maintain their position in the overall marketplace.
Melissa Cuglietta the Marketing and Promotions director at the Mall has launched the All Things Christmas campaign this week with the arrival of Santa Claus and the countdown to the big day begins.
For a second year the mall merchants are holding their Black Friday sales, to compete with shoppers heading across the river to take advantage of the annual post Thanksgiving event and traditional the kick off the holiday shopping season state side.
“Black Friday begins at 6am and there will be awesome deals all weekend long as well as great give-a-ways such as prizes and gift stores mall wide” Cuglietta said.
Santa’s arrival yesterday drew large crowds of kids for the annual Breakfast with Santa. Kids get their photo with Santa after letting the big guy know what’s on their list. Santa stays at the mall until Tuesday December 23.
Cuglietta has looked after the marketing and promotions for the mall for three years “this is the second year for the new decorations, we decided to go on the modern twist that I think freshens and brightens things up”
One of those changes is where Santa is, for years he was a staple in the centre court but he moved his workshop to the Sears court.
“this is definitely the biggest time of year for retailers with many taking in more than 60 percent of their overall income during the busy holiday season” The mall houses about 90 stores with many of them temporary just for the holiday season. “we have all of our possible vacancies filled”
“we have the Soo Greyhounds, Hickory farms, The Toy Box and many others that set up on an annual basis and we also have some new retailers as well”
Each Friday the Mall will give away gift cards with values of $250 to $1,000 that are drawn until Christmas though a $2,500 gift card will be drawn during their late night shopping event on December 19. “Reindeer Games is also another promotion that gives people a chance to win prizes by finding the hidden reindeer on the All Things Christmas website thestationmall.com
Cuglietta hopes that by giving Canadian and American shoppers an incentive to spend their dollars at the mall will result in a banner year for the 42 year old waterfront shopping centre.
