ShareThisBy DARRELL SMITH
Friday, November 10, 2006
Two kids inside at a time only, please. All others, form a line outside the door.
Since school started this fall, that's been the before-and after-school rule at a Walgreens in Elk Grove, Calif. where store officials have instituted a two-teens-at-a-time policy.
Normally, storekeepers like crowds and the cash they bring. But when those crowds are teens _ and there are 20, 30 or even 50 at a time in the store aisles _ it can be a problem.
The store was overrun, they say, with as many as 50 young students at a time, coming in the morning and afternoon hours from the nearby junior high and high school. Customers complained about crowds, noise and horseplay. And although no shoplifting reports were filed with police, store officials said there was evidence of theft, said Walgreens corporate spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce.
"The store manager had experienced problems. He said kids were coming into the store and being disruptive. It sounds like there was a lot of horseplay," Bruce said. "He knows some of the kids, so he's (doing) it on his own."
Walgreens store managers are given that autonomy, Bruce said, because "they know their communities better than the corporate world (does)."
Walgreens' policy isn't unusual. From the corner convenience store to the urban shopping mall, balancing commerce and crowd control has long been a problem for retailers. Store policies limiting teens have been tried in various ways across the country.
"It's usually done because of an enormous amount of teens who make it uncomfortable for other consumers," said Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, an industry trade organization.
"The shopping center is there for the act of commerce," Duker continued. "It's supposed to be a friendly environment for all consumers no matter what."
The Elk Grove Walgreens is not the only retailer grappling with how to balance kids and commerce.
Some minimarts at gas stations, for instance, post signs limiting the number of students allowed inside the tiny quarters at any given time.
Gas station owner Sukh Singh gives his cashiers permission to limit the number of kids inside his Union 76 minimart in Sacramento, Calif. if the crowd grows too large.
"It's the cashier's job to make sure everything is under control. She's the one who calls the shots," said Singh. "The time of day, the situation, it can be a Saturday or any day _ the cashier makes that decision."
For some larger convenience store chains, like Dallas-based 7-Eleven stores, there's no set policy regulating the number of teens on the premises. The chain's California stores are owned by franchisees, who are encouraged to adjust their staffing during peak hours when lots of kids are likely to be coming through the doors.
For many teens, who often have few places to meet one another outside school, public places like shopping malls and the corner store are natural gathering spots, noted Kathryn Hadley, a professor at California State University, Sacramento, who specializes in the sociology of childhood and peer culture.
But the perception of teen gatherings can be misinterpreted by adults, who Hadley says often "assume (teens) are doing what they shouldn't be when, in fact, they're just hanging out and having fun."
Hadley questioned whether the policy would be implemented if it were an equally large crowd of adults, such as a busload of seniors or a large tour group.
"Is that (group) going to be interpreted as chaotic? Disruptive?" she asked. "Would you risk treating an adult customer like that?"
But retailers have concerns.
Nearly a quarter of arrested shoplifters nationwide are 13 to 17 years old, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Crime Prevention Council, a nonprofit group that addresses the causes of crime and violence.
Large shopping malls address the crowd issue in different ways. Nearly three dozen shopping malls across the country have so-called "parental escort" policies stating that children under 16 must be supervised by a parent or someone 21 or older after certain operating hours, Duker said.
They include the Fairlane Town Center mall in Dearborn, Mich., a Detroit suburb, which in 2004 set a policy that after 5 p.m. those under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older. Fairlane officials cited large numbers of unruly, unsupervised youths as reasons for the restrictions.
"The safety of our shoppers is our highest priority," said the mall's then-general manager Cathy O'Malley, in a report on its Web site. "The large number of unsupervised youth congregating at the center ... are well beyond our ability to effectively manage and we are concerned for their safety."
For now, Walgreens plans to stick with its policy, which isn't sitting well with the customers it's targeting.
"It's stupid. That's what I think," said Aaron Newton, a 12-year-old standing outside the Walgreens on a recent afternoon, taking sips from a bottle of orange soda. "They say we're going to be loud. They're making us wait out here in the heat. If they just let us in, we can buy what we need and leave."
