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Picture-perfect security solution

By Edmund Mander

Customers didn't like Southgate Mall's long, isolated corridors leading to the rest rooms. But now the problem is history.

Chances are shoppers answering the call of nature will never be alone in those corridors again, thanks to a historical photography exhibition that, according to Kimberly Roth, marketing manager of the Missoula, Mont., mall, has drawn "hundreds of thousands'' of people since it opened in October.

"This caterpillar is turning into a butterfly,'' she said, describing how 90 photographs depicting Missoula's past have transformed the corridors. "By turning our hallways into an art exhibit, we've addressed our security issue.''

The problem first arose after the completion a year ago of a $6 million renovation of the mall. The refurbishment saw the installation of marble flooring, new skylights, a cascading fountain and more attractive bathrooms. But, to get to those facilities, shoppers had to walk a lonely gauntlet that added to any discomfort they already felt.

"The hallways seemed to be very long and stark and echoey,'' Roth said. "From a PR standpoint it was imperative that I address it."

Roth contacted the University of Montana, Missoula, which agreed to provide access to a collection of photos in its Mansfield Library. The mall had the 90 chosen photographs framed, matted and mounted, at a cost of about $40,000.

The mall has dubbed the exhibit "Hallways to History: A Photographic Walk through Missoula's History."

Mall officials plan to keep the show up for three years.