Month later, Norfolk mall remains devoid of teens in evenings

By Jaedda Armstrong

NORFOLK

At 5:05 Wednesday evening, 17-year-old Tiffani Walker stood outside MacArthur Center waiting for her mother to pick her up.

She'd rather have still been inside shopping, but she would have been asked to leave and been escorted out by the downtown mall's security guards. The guards now stood at every entrance scanning each passing face for a hint of adolescence.

Thursday marked the one-month mark of the mall's no-teens-after-5 policy. The rule requires shoppers younger than 18 to have a "supervising adult" at least 21 years of age with them if they come to the mall after 5 p.m.

"It's so not fair, but what can you do?" said Walker, clutching an Aeropostale shopping bag. "Not all teens are looking for trouble. I actually shop here for clothes and shoes."

Jim Wofford, the mall's general manager, said staff members initiated the policy after they noticed an increase in "unsupervised" youths congregating at MacArthur Center in the evenings. The staff wanted, he said, to prevent any issues that could arise from large gatherings.

When mall officials announced the plan in early October, local teens rallied in opposition, called for boycotts, and created group pages on the social-networking site Facebook to criticize the policy.

Quint Guvernator, a 14-year-old Norfolk Academy student, created the Facebook group "MacArthur is not being fair!," now boasting more than 2,000 members.

A day before the policy went into effect, Guvernator and about 40 teens from the Facebook group gathered in front of the mall holding signs and protesting the rule. One sign read, "Mall Should Be For All."

Mall officials applauded the teens' ambition but made no change to the policy.

Since then, Guvernator hasn't set foot in MacArthur Center, and he encourages his friends and family members to spend their money at other malls.

"They're going to lose a lot of sales from kids and adults," he said.

Although the teen protests have quieted down, they won't stay that way, Guvernator said Thursday. He plans to organize another event - maybe a second protest - after the holidays.

"Of course, there are still folks that don't agree with the policy, but whether they agree or not, I'm sure everyone supports a safer environment for our children and our customers," Wofford said.

Mall officials aren't tracking the number of teens who have violated the rule, Wofford said. He also said he doesn't know whether any merchants have seen a difference in sales since the policy went into effect.

Managers at several stores in the mall, including Aeropostale and GameStop, declined to comment.

By 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the mall's halls were quiet and most stores were empty. Security guards walked the mall, scanning faces.

Standing by the entrance of clothing store Forever 21, employee Joseph Nguyen folded clothes and placed them on a shelf.

Before the ban, teens would cram into the store to check out the latest fashions, said the 19-year-old cashier.

"Now," he said, "it's just dead in here."

Jaedda Armstrong, (757)222-5846, jaedda.armstrong@pilotonline.com