Late nights at the mall

Retail Wire reports that malls are staying open later to compete with standalone stores who are able to attract customers with late night store timings. General Growth Properties, a mall development company decided to extend hours at 200 malls located in 44 states. As consumers are getting more strapped for time, they are expecting stores to be open till later at night. Most malls usually only have extended hours in the shopping season from Thanksgiving to New Years.

Patrice Duker, a spokesperson for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said other malls will likely follow General Growth if it turns out to have positive results over a longer period of time. General Growth only began expanding mall hours last month. "I think you need that year or length of time to benchmark it before we make the decision of whether it's good, bad or indifferent," said Ms. Duker.