We opened our haunt Night Terrors of Effingham in 2010 in a vacant building in our mall. We are in a smaller community of 12,000 people so our mall is one of those that is slowly dying. The mall managers have been a AMAZING to work with, they charged us a very reduced rent for a space that is 45,000 sq ft and only charge for Sept and Oct!!! With much community advertisement, local business sponsorships, parades, social events, etc, we were able to get the word out and brought in 2,100 for our first year! Many of the businesses close at 9pm however the movie theater stays open til Midnight. So we had an inside entrance to our haunt and just had to have the patrons out by 12. If we were so busy we didn't think we would be able to get them through in time, we offered to sell them a ticket to return the next day and they would have a fast pass. People liked that!
The great thing with the mall is they are very accessible for the patrons, most know exactly where you are located, because they are a dying breed the managers are very eager to work with potential renters. You don't have to worry about parking, restrooms, etc. The downfall is you have to tear down at the end of your season. With our location our managers were so eager to have us back this year they offered to let us store our entire tore down haunt in their warehouse for an extremely discounted rate!!! They also have let us host haunt meetings each month to try and recruit new members along with hosting prop building days to prepare for this years haunt.
I think utilizing a mall space is a great way to build your business and get your haunt to the success you desire. Our goal is to do just that and then be able to move to establish a permanent haunt.
Good luck with your haunt this year!!!!
The great thing with the mall is they are very accessible for the patrons, most know exactly where you are located, because they are a dying breed the managers are very eager to work with potential renters. You don't have to worry about parking, restrooms, etc. The downfall is you have to tear down at the end of your season. With our location our managers were so eager to have us back this year they offered to let us store our entire tore down haunt in their warehouse for an extremely discounted rate!!! They also have let us host haunt meetings each month to try and recruit new members along with hosting prop building days to prepare for this years haunt.
I think utilizing a mall space is a great way to build your business and get your haunt to the success you desire. Our goal is to do just that and then be able to move to establish a permanent haunt.
Good luck with your haunt this year!!!!
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