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Shopping Centers Today -> May 1998
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Mall enters medical field
Some services now available at shopping centers are time savers: motor vehicle bureaus, dry cleaners. Others are life-savers.
When Chattanooga-based CBL & Associates Properties developed its Mall at Turtle Creek in Hattiesburg, Miss., it included Wesley Place, a facility from nearby Wesley Medical Center.
"It was created to offer special medical services, including mammograms, blood screenings, blood pressure tests. The center already has seen 2,000 patients," since its August 1997 opening, said Barbara Ivankovich, SCMD, director of corporate mall marketing of CBL.
Patients exit the center into the mall, giving exposure to the mall's tenants. The medical facility also brings in a large number of men, who end up shopping while they wait, she added.
Critical to the medical center's success at the mall is its appearance, she said.
"The facility is very attractive. You'd never know it was a clinic. You can watch television while you wait, and they have a lending resource library with medical information," Ms. Ivankovich said.
In a slightly different, but still medical, vein, CBL's WestGate Mall in Spartanburg, S.C., formed a partnership with the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS), which was searching for a nontraditional method to reach its market.
The largest employer in the region, SHRS constructed a Wellness for Life Center at the mall. Health-oriented programs are held at the center on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, including health screenings, a walking club for mothers, a complete mall walkers program, and poison control and cancer prevention programs.
An additional benefit to the center has been SHRS' sponsorship of its Customer Service Center. Healthcare System employees staff and maintain the center.
SHRS also sponsored the center's holiday decor, underwriting a five-year $170,000 program. Far from being clinical, part of the decor featured a teddy bear hospital and ambulance to appeal to children.
"It was real positive and fun for the children," Ms. Ivankovich said.
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