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Letter to the editor

Westfield mall chief eager for the holidays

By ERNEST HOOPER, Lunch with Ernest
Published November 23, 2007

Today, Laurie Goldman started working just after The Late Show with David Letterman ended.

Well, maybe not that early. But as the Westfield Brandon mall's senior general manager, Goldman awoke long before sunrise to help some retailers open at 4 a.m. for Black Friday, the annual day-after-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.

After taking over in June, Goldman enters her first holiday season at the Brandon shopping hub eager to help retailers and customers survive the rush.

We met at Panera Bread to talk about the economic and traffic challenges of the season and what it means for the mall to add a Coach store early next year.

Pull up a chair and join us.ERNEST: I noticed you're reaching out to residents of Channelside and Harbour Island. How realistic is it to get those people to shop out here?

GOLDMAN: We're as close as any other shopping destination for them, especially with the Crosstown Expressway, and we share a lot of retailers now with some of the other Tampa Bay market centers. We've got the Cheesecake Factory open. We've got California Pizza Kitchen opening in December. We've got a great new wing that includes Swarovski, Teavana, Tilly's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Books-A-Million, so we're very excited to be able to capture that customer.

What's the mood among the retailers? Are they extremely excited or cautiously optimistic given some of our economic challenges?

I think everyone is very excited here. This will be our first holiday season with the new wing open. The traffic patterns we've seen ramping up to the holiday season have been very positive. I think the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) predicts an increase of 2.9 percent even with the current state of the economy. (We should see an increase) especially here in the Tampa market. Last year, a lot of our customers were hit with increased property taxes and homeowners insurance. Now they've had 12 months to adjust their disposable income to that, so the gains we're looking for should be significant.

Three new malls are opening or will open in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area. Do you worry about losing those customers?

We offer a different experience down here. Even though, for instance, a JCPenney has opened up there, it's a smaller JCPenney with a different offering. So there's going to be a significant amount of cross-shopping. Even though they may stop there for some of their shopping, they'll still come here to do a majority of it because we offer a wider range of retail.

You came here in June from a Westfield property in Sarasota. Are you excited about your first holiday season in Brandon?

Absolutely. I've been a Brandon resident for some time. I was doing the drive down to Sarasota Square. This has always been my shopping destination. It's my home. I'm really excited about getting to see the smiles of my friends and family as they shop.

You've worked at three different malls in this area. What makes this mall different?

It's a very interesting time for the center, opening a whole new expansion and offering our customers more. And just the inherent loyalty of the customer base here. The community here is just so warm and welcoming. It's always been that way since this was a cow pasture years ago.

We always think of International Plaza as upscale and Westfield Brandon as more blue collar, but the addition of the Coach store seems to suggest a change.

We're just offering a larger variety. We expanded to be able to allow a larger variety of stores to cater to the wide range of customers you see in Brandon. Brandon continues to be a growing market, along with Riverview and South Shore, so you continue to see the demographics change. We'll continue to grow with it.

Dessert: A postscript from Ernest

Goldman notes that with Thanksgiving coming so early in the month, the official holiday shopping season will be longer than normal. Combine that with the Dec. 4 arrival of Hanukkah, and Goldman expects some early returns for retailers. In addition to sales, Westfield Brandon shoppers can support the Secret Santa program, which allows patrons to fulfill the wish lists of needy children. The Tampa Bay Rough Riders, best known as a Gasparilla krewe, will have a teddy bear drive at the mall, and schools and churches will perform during the season.

Ernest Hooper also writes a column for the Tampa & State section. He can be reached at hooper@sptimes.com or 226-3406.

Fast facts

Mall traffic tips

Westfield Brandon officials offer these suggestions for dealing with traffic and parking challenges during the holiday shopping season:

- State Road 60: Don't go there. Use one of the three alternate roads leading to the mall -Providence Road, Causeway Boulevard or Gornto Lake Road. Shoppers coming from the south can exit Interstate 75 at U.S. 301 and get to Gornto Lake Road viaBloomingdale Avenue. Shoppers from downtown Tampa can take the Crosstown flyover.

- The new mall wing has not eliminated parking spaces. In fact, eight additional spaces were added during construction, bringing the total to 5,217.

- Use the free Holiday Shopper Shuttle. Three extended golf carts, which carry eight people each, will pick up and drop off shoppers at their individual cars.

- Off-duty sheriff's deputies will work to minimize congestion. This includes mounted patrols during the mall's busiest times.

[Last modified November 22, 2007, 23:20:15]