Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Haunts in Malls?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    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!!!!

    Comment


    • #17
      Which mall in nj

      What mall are you opening the haunt in jersey

      is it going to be in south or north jersey

      i live in new york but grow up in jersey

      bob




      Originally posted by xtremecreator View Post
      im trying a mall in nj this year as well. This mall brings in 750,000 customers a month .......so we will see how it goes...............

      John

      Comment


      • #18
        Well, we got the word yesterday that it was a GO...
        BUT...
        The tentative agreement they pitched us and we were fine with was all fine except the owners want 1000.00 more dollars tacked onto it.
        Plus the mall operations lady we dealt with was very rude to us on the phone...she kept cutting us off saying "IS IT FEASIBLE OR NOT?!?!"
        Now we are up in the air...

        Kirk
        Kirk Boemmel
        Dark Ghost Manor
        www.darkghostmanor.com

        sigpic

        Comment


        • #19
          Originally posted by Darkblood View Post
          Well, we got the word yesterday that it was a GO...
          BUT...
          The tentative agreement they pitched us and we were fine with was all fine except the owners want 1000.00 more dollars tacked onto it.
          Plus the mall operations lady we dealt with was very rude to us on the phone...she kept cutting us off saying "IS IT FEASIBLE OR NOT?!?!"
          Now we are up in the air...

          Kirk
          Kirk,
          Don't let 1k and a gripey old lady stop you. If you think you can do good, then go for it.
          If it were me, I would personally go and talk to the mall owners, not the old lady over the phone and get it all in writing. Show your concern and don't hold anything back. Nothing worse than getting in a contract only to be dismissed early because everything was not out on the table at the beginning.
          Talk to them in person, not over the phone!!!

          Also, asked them why they changed the price (what change made that happen) ?????????

          Tom
          Tom
          Creator of the Dungeon
          WWW.BRICKTOWNAMUSEMENT.COM

          Comment


          • #20
            Tom,
            The lady is the one to talk to who does all the dealings, etc. with stores/contracts.
            She is the top at the mall (other than owners).
            It was a matter of principle in our eyes. If she pulls this with no answer as to why then what will
            happen 1 month down the road?
            We met with her and looked the location over and she seemed gung-ho and offering to advertise for us
            in all of the mall advertising, etc.
            She told us she'd call by Friday and didn't, so we called her and she was just very rude and would not answer
            questions. She just kept saying "IS IT FEASIBLE?!?!"
            Right now we are contacting our location we had last year as the sale fell through and will see what comes of that.
            If that can work, we'd have it there. If not, we might just bite the bullet and try negotiating for 500 more instead of
            1000.00.
            I like having everything on the table (we tried to do that in person and thought we got it all out there).
            The terms we agreed tentatively to were the malls offer.
            The problem is, we've talked to some former mall tenants and they said the mall kept raising rent and prices on them and
            that's why they had to leave. It's a slowly dying mall that could use the traffic we'd bring in and more fun events.
            We thought it was mutually beneficial?
            We'll see...but the haunted house WILL happen!
            Thanks,
            Kirk
            Kirk Boemmel
            Dark Ghost Manor
            www.darkghostmanor.com

            sigpic

            Comment


            • #21
              I understand Kirk (I really do),
              Do what you fill is right.
              Ask the lady, what will this empty space bring in the following months? A dead, empty space will bring nothing.
              Anyway, I know what you mean and feel the pain.
              I hope it goes well. Just get it all in writing on both sides needs. I hate to see a haunter get screwed.
              Honestly? It will open doors to another future (resume) as it did for me. It was tough and I paid dearly doing it, but it got me established AND to the next level. And that was my goal.....

              Good luck and keep us updated,

              Tom
              Tom
              Creator of the Dungeon
              WWW.BRICKTOWNAMUSEMENT.COM

              Comment


              • #22
                Thanks Tom!
                I appreciate the advice and encouragement!

                It's needed right now!

                Kirk
                Kirk Boemmel
                Dark Ghost Manor
                www.darkghostmanor.com

                sigpic

                Comment


                • #23
                  I was in a mall last year

                  Almost my exact situation last year. The mall was having some problems with stores leaving and was not the biggest mall, but had a few good anchor stores and was not packed all the time, but had some foot traffic on weekends. They were real cool about everything and were glad to have us there. Since I own a radio station, we did a trade for free space in return for advertising. They also thought it would help bring people in and we were next to a family fun center. The space was perfect, avacated department store, about 4000-5000 sq. feet, more room than we needed. Plenty of electric, smoke detectors, sprinklers, exit signs and safety lights. Also heated and ac and even a side room we used as an actor break and makeup room complete with it's own bathroom. Had an entrance from the mall, we built a facade and divided off a waiting room. Also in the back connected to the loading dock for outside access.

                  Here is what I learned.

                  While people thought we did a good job making it scary, the mall is not a very creepy atmosphere, except late at night when you are there working alone at 2am and everything is quiet and you here the kids ride on stuff making noises and echoing from down the hall lol. Also as someone mentioned, people thought it would be cheesey. Had a lot of people bringing kids and getting to the first scene and leaving.

                  THIS IS A BIG ONE! We had issues with figuring out the power situation, and the mall gets a little funny about you playing around with their power panels, we had to work with a mall maint guy and figure out what turned the big overhead lights off, it was a mess, there were about 5 different panels located in 2 different places and we shared some lights with another rental space of offices. We learned the hard way not to mess with stuff, as we accidently turned off their lights and got a nasty call the next Monday morning, after that and we owned up, all was good.

                  After the mall closed at 9p, our customers dropped big time. Even though we had signs etc. All entrances were locked except the back entrance near our in mall front entrance. We did put a red police beacon light near the door and that helped after the first week.

                  White walls and white floor that we could not mess with made it hard to keep dark as the light was reflecting. So I had to work really hard on using minimal lights like l.e.d.s and have lights come on only when they were in that scene.



                  All in all, we made a small profit, not worth all the work though. Hope all this helps.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    question for hf productions

                    Was that Janet and Chip you dealt with. I the people that I dealt with in the mall I just did a looong post about was owned by the same people and the lady i dealt with used to be there and still had something to do with it. They were really great and glad to have us and worked with us just like you were saying and let us store stuff for almost nothing, infact still some stuff there.

                    oh 1 more thing. There was 1 downfall, right after the haunt, they did tell me I needed to get everything out within a week!!! I could move it to storage across the loading dock, as they were having someone look at the sapce. It was a pain, but I did it and cleaned it all up, better than before I had started setting up. They were pleased. So that is something esle you might have to deal with.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      This must be the year for malls, I am also in a mall this year , but i have no accses to the mall (my request) using only outside accses in an old JCpennys space I am in a mall that is almost dead all the anchor stores are gone so i am renting it for the location only.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Well, we are in and getting it built...crazy time...we open Sept. 23rd!
                        We are open 6-9 on Thursdays and until 10 on Fri/Sat.
                        The mall closes at 9 and we have an inside and outside entrance that meet at the ticket booth but our inside gate is to be locked at 9 sharp.
                        We have our sign on the gate and daily hear people talking about it.
                        The mall deal went in our favor our way and they've been cool about stuff...they even supply the toilet paper...talk about luxury!
                        We have to figure out the panel for our outlets as we can't get 1/2 of them to work and I'm working on lighting right now.
                        Other than that...we should have a great year! The only other stinker is we have to be moved/cleaned up by Nov. 15th...but if nobody is moving in (I doubt it) then we can take longer.
                        We're excited!

                        Kirk
                        Kirk Boemmel
                        Dark Ghost Manor
                        www.darkghostmanor.com

                        sigpic

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X