The owner of Westfield Century City, Westfield Topanga and more than a dozen other shopping centers in Southern California
plans to cut shopping hours at nearly all of its 55 U.S. malls starting March 1, it was reported today.
Most of Westfield Group's malls will open 30 minutes later and close 30 minutes earlier on weekdays, spokeswoman Katy Dickey said in remarks reported by the Los Angeles Times. About a third will close an hour earlier on Sundays; hours will generally stay the same on Saturdays.
The company says the move is intended to help struggling retailers save money.
"What we're hoping to do is help our retailers save, conserve resources and respond to changing consumer demand and traffic patterns," Dickey said, according to The Times.
A few malls will not be affected, she said, including Horton Plaza in San Diego and San Francisco Centre.
Australia-based Westfield is one of the world's largest shopping center companies. It owns 24 regional malls in California, with 17 in Southern California.
Executives at Macerich Co., a Santa Monica-based shopping center chain, have been monitoring hourly foot traffic at the company's malls and meeting with retailers to determine hourly sales volume, Ken Gillett, senior vice president of property management, told The Times.
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Jennifer Gordon, a spokeswoman for Caruso Affiliated, which owns the Grove shopping center in the Fairfax district and the Americana in Glendale, told The Times that the company had no plans to cut hours.
