FESTIVE FOR THE HOLIDAYS Willowbrook Mall is constantly evolving, most recently with a new location for Old Navy and some new restaurants,
including Dave & Busters and Tio Juan’s Margaritas.
it’s always tearful for me. It’s a great
organization that does great things.
HOW DID THE MALL GET INVOLVED
WITH CASA, AND WHY?
It’s somewhat of a sad story. One
of our employees’ daughters who
also worked here was killed in a
car accident. The family started a
fundraiser for her, and they selected
CASA as the organization that they
would donate their funds to. The mall
picked up on that and got involved
with CASA because she was a part of
our family.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES
AND TOUGH MOMENTS DURING
THE HOLIDAY SEASON?
Part of our toughest thing is our
extended hours. To satisfy the cus-
tomers’ needs, we have extended
hours. It’s hard on the retailers, as
well as my management staff. For
example, we’re open on Thanksgiving
night. Unfortunately, everybody must
leave their families to come. But the
customers love it. We do some fun
things that night to make more of an
event out of it, such as having a DJ,
face painters, a balloon artist, and gift
card giveaways. There are also a
lot of sales on Thanksgiving night.
I think the customers have dictated
our Thanksgiving opening.
WHAT IS WILLOWBROOK MALL DOING
TO GET CUSTOMERS TO COME TO THE
MALL ITSELF RATHER THAN SHOPPING
ONLINE, ESPECIALLY DURING THE
HOLIDAY SEASON?
It’s being able to have a place to
gather, to come with your families,
sit in the center court and have a
cup of coffee. They can go to Dave
& Busters, be entertained, or go to
Blaze and make their own pizza. The
other thing that I don’t think people
talk about enough is the service that
they get in the stores that you don’t
get online. For example, when you go
in Old Navy, you don’t have to wait
at the register. There are sales associ-
ates on the floor that have a scanner
and they can take your purchase right
there on the floor if you pay with a
credit card. The Children’s Place has
that as well.
WHAT RENOVATIONS BEEN DONE?
We created an opportunity for
Old Navy to switch with Zara, since
Zara wanted a larger space. Old Navy
took a two-level location and Zara is
in a much larger location now, and
it looks beautiful. We’ve added a
Dave & Busters to the Sears box, and
we opened a restaurant in the food
court called Tio Juan’s Margaritas. In
December, we’ll be opening another
restaurant, P.F. Chang’s, outside of
the Bloomingdale’s store. We’re
really trying to appeal to the
customer by offering them not
only a shopping experience but
a dining experience.
WHAT IS IN STORE FOR THE FUTURE
OF THE MALL?
We’re constantly evolving. Next
year, we’ll be opening a 12-theater
Cinemark location outside of where
Sears Auto used to be. We also have
Buffalo Wild Wings ready to start
construction, which will be located
next to The Cheesecake Factory.
Sears downsized so they are in half of
their old existing building. That’s why
we added the Dave & Busters. But
we’re still redeveloping the rest of
that building. We don’t have anything
to speak of right yet, but there are
going to be more things to come. ■
WAYNE MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2018
37