We have a fairly large shopping center along busy highway. Entrances and exits were not well planned. The center is so broken up with free standing buildings and parking lot areas that customers cannot find their way around the lot easily. I get phone calls from inside the lot asking where my store is located! We have several large retailers…Costco, Stein Mart, HomeGoods/Marshalls and several small restaurants (Outback and Carrabbas are the two biggest.) Parking is limited. My strip is closest to and facing the main street but developer felt it necessary to plan pine trees on berm in front of our store. Tall trees also planted behind which hides us from rest of center. Almost all of the merchants in the center are willing to contribute/participate to increase traffic. The village government is not so helpful. Even new signs and banners are prohibited. Any ideas if some kind of "event" (e.g. car show, carnival, snow making machine (we’re in FL) would be of benefit for (1) getting customers into the center and (2) getting them familiar with all the stores in this chopped up center. If so, which events have worked for you? If not, what do you suggest? My concerns are whether (1) the parking lot would hold a large crowd and (2) would it be a distraction from the stores rather than a benefit.

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Jay’s Answer: Invite the local boy/girl scouts to come and help lay the footwork to your stores. Have each child assigned a paint color, a route (and perhaps a store). Their job is to step into their paint color, and create footsteps for their route. (The paint could be washable, of course, if the merchants are concerned). Then, create a color-coded map that matches the footsteps.

You now have an "event", a theme, and a result that will help foot traffic.