With Black Friday soon to trigger the start of the 2016 holiday shopping season, Lincolnwood Town Center mall is gearing up for the influx of shoppers and has four new retailers that recently opened for business.
The new additions to the mall’s mix of 80-plus retailers — which are anchored by big-name department stores Kohl’s and Carson’s — are Gamers World, women’s plus-size clothing chain Torrid, jewelry retailer Zales and Leo’s Tacos in the second-floor food court.
All four newcomers opened in September and October, according to Lincolnwood Town Center spokeswoman Tasha Yohan.
Also, Lincolnwood Town Center is prepping for the busiest shopping time of the year by planning for Santa’s Nov. 18 arrival. He’ll ride a sleigh into the mall’s center court area. Pet photos with Santa and a holiday-themed train ride for kids will also open the same week, said Yohan.
“We encourage shoppers to follow us on social media, visit our website or call us to keep-up with our holiday happenings, promotions and retailer sales,” she said in an email.
Even with the ease of online shopping and Internet retailers enticing shoppers with heavy discounts and free shipping during the holiday season, department stores are still faring well, according to data from the National Retail Federation.
According to the organization’s spokeswoman Treacy Reynolds, a survey of consumers conducted by the National Retail Federation showed shoppers will split their time almost evenly between three top destinations: department stores (57 percent), online (also 57 percent) and discount stores (56 percent).
The survey also found that 45 percent of holiday shoppers plan to visit a grocery store this season, 34 percent said they would shop at clothing stores, 27 percent would spend money at electronics stores and 23 percent said they would visit a small or local business. Ten percent of shoppers said they planned to visit outlet stores, which was a new category added to the annual survey this year.
The many conveniences of online shopping won’t be overlooked by shoppers, however.
More than 90 percent of respondents in the survey said they planned to take advantage of free shipping offers from online retailers, and other out-of-store shopping conveniences like buying online and picking up in the store and store-to-store shipping. The latter two were popular among 47 percent of respondents.
In addition, 17 percent will take advantage of expedited shipping and 10 percent will use same-day delivery.
Despite the appeal of cyber-shopping, Yohan said brick and mortar stores offer a social gathering place that consumer’s can’t get online.
And by hosting community events like a health fair for seniors and a fashion show staged by local high school students, for example, the mall offers more than just a place to go shopping, she said.
“Malls provide all kinds of retail experiences and entertainment,” Yohan said. “People still enjoy a hands-on experience with a diversified retail mix, (and) we are optimistic that we will have a successful holiday shopping season based on what we’re seeing and hearing from our retailers at Lincolnwood Town Center.”
Natalie Hayes is a freelancer.