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Bringing the smoker in from the cold

By Jon Springer

While smoking has been banned at most malls across the country, two centers have brought smokers in from the cold.

Whether motivated by civic responsibility, local laws or public pressure, more than 80% of enclosed malls in the United States have banned smoking over the last five years. But while smoking has been gradually phased out of malls, smokers have not. A common, if unsightly, result of the trend toward smoke-free buildings is the pariah smoker, arms loaded with bags, shivering outside the mall entrance, puffing away. Another concern for mall managers has been balancing a possible loss of business from smokers (who may spend less time in the mall or shop elsewhere) with the comfort and safety of their nonsmoking customers.

With the help of a tobacco industry giant, two malls have found an effective, if controversial, solution to both these issues.

Northgate Mall, Chattanooga, Tenn., and North Point Mall, Alpharetta, Ga., have each rented empty shop space to the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based tobacco company R.J. Reynolds, which has used the space to install in-line smoking lounges. The lounges allow smokers to light up without inconveniencing nonsmoking customers or relegating them to entrances or parking lots.

R.J. Reynolds rents both spaces -- 2,200 square feet in Chattanooga and 2,500 square feet in Alpharetta -- to test-market the company's new products. The lounges, staffed by R.J. Reynolds representatives, include couches, newspapers and magazines, and sell cold drinks and coffee. Only smokers aged 21 and over are allowed to enter.

North Point Mall, which added the smoking lounge in September 1997, quickly came under criticism from an anti-smoking group, which charged that R.J. Reynolds was using the lounge to target teens. The mall also received some flack from nonsmoking shoppers, who said the lounge was inappropriate. Overall, however, officials are "happy with the way things have worked out," said Shawn Ingall, a spokeswoman for General Growth Properties, Chicago, which owns and manages the 1.4-million-square-foot mall.

Northgate, an 850,000-square-foot mall owned by U.S. Prime Property, New York, and managed by ERE Yarmouth, Atlanta, houses R.J. Reynolds' first mall smoking lounge, which opened in April 1996.

"It's been very well received -- we've had very little negative reaction from the public," said Marcia Martin, SCSM/SCMD, general manager of Northgate Mall. Acknowledging that smoking can be a volatile issue, Ms. Martin said treading lightly was the key.

"We didn't make a big deal about [the smoking lounge] when it opened," she said. "We addressed it as a win-win situation from the landlord's point of view, because the mall is a nonsmoking environment and this gave our smoking customers a nice place to go and smoke while not being offensive to our nonsmoking customers."

Ironically, the smoking lounge may be one of the most comfortable areas in the mall. Ms. Martin described the Northgate smoking lounge as a "living room," with couches, tables and reading materials on hand. The space, a former Ormond's dress shop, was extensively renovated and provided with a new ventilation system by the tenant. "They put a considerable amount of money into the space and it really looks nice," she said.

Nat Walker, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, said the tobacco company has no plans for additional smoking lounges in other malls. Nor will the existing lounges necessarily become permanent tenants. The company could close the lounges when market research is completed for Eclipse, the company's new low-smoke cigarette, he added. Staff at the lounges "make a little pitch" for new product.

"The reason we opened them is for market research. We're not looking to open smoking lounges in malls all over the country. They're very expensive," said Mr. Walker. "Our primary concern was finding test locations with a lot of traffic, and shopping malls are good places for that."

That the lounges make the malls more attractive to smokers is a secondary benefit, Mr. Walker said. "It is certainly a service to smokers, many of whom are our customers, but that was not our primary intention."

Similarly, servicing smokers is not the primary intention of centers that include the in-line smoking lounges. Without corporate sponsorship, offering leasable store space solely for use as a smoking lounge would be highly unlikely, developers say. They simply don't want to lose potential rent.

"Our lounge is in a prime location in the mall," said Ms. Martin. "Most likely, we wouldn't want to donate that space on our own."