The holiday shopping season has been made better by the new parking lot at the Flagstaff Mall & The Marketplace has been completed.
Shoppers can now find plentiful parking on the new 9,000 tons of asphalt that has been laid down and wrapped all the way around the mall, says Lori Pappas, assistant vice president of consumer marketing for the mall.
She says the improvement to the parking lot was needed.
“You take into consideration that the shop- ping center is 30 years old,” she said. “We’ve done continual maintenance, but we’re at the 30-year mark, so it needed serious attention.”
The shopping center is owned by Westcor and includes about 85 businesses, including department stores, specialty and box stores.
“We take the shopping center business very seriously and pride ourselves in offering a quality shopping experience that comes with the aesthetics of the shopping center, and that includes the parking improvements,” Pappas said.
The merchants at the mall are happy about the project.
“The new look of the parking lot reflects an updated image for a 30-year-old mall, especially with the new landscaping, better striping of spaces and clearer traffic flow,“ said Bill McGrath, store manager of JCPenney at the mall.
Pappas says the number of parking spaces remains the same, but improvements have been made in the medians and all around the parking area and the entrances of the center.
She said as part of the project, 2,260 plants were installed. Also, trees will shade the park- ing area in the summer, including 140 black pine trees, 46 sycamore trees, two ash trees and 20 Colorado Spruce. 7,600 square feet of sod has also been installed.
Now that AR Mays has finished work on the parking lot, mall officials are offering some attractive extras for the holidays.
“The holidays are all about giving and getting, and that is our focus,” Pappas said. “Every Friday from Dec. 3 through the 17th, we will be giving $10 gift cards from one of our stores to the first 100 customers who come to Guest Services at 5:00 p.m.”
She said no purchase is required, but shoppers must be 18 to take advantage of the offer.
Pappas said that also on those Fridays, there will be special events for the nonprofit organizations, called “unwrapping events.”
“We put out 50 wrapped boxes and they race to find the 10 boxes that contain a $25 gift card,” she said. “The gift cards can be used for the charity of their choice.”
The best way to learn about all the special promotions for the holidays is to visit www.westcor.com, says Pappas.
“It’s a good way to know before you go.
