Although Laurel’s Sawmill Square Mall was the first regional shopping center in the area to have a formal policy on teen behavior, malls across the nation are beginning to take the risk of upsetting young people in favor of making malls more family friendly.

Shopping malls across the country are facing more and more competition not only from other shopping centers, but also online stores and other entertainment options that compete for extra dollars in consumers’ budgets.

Many shoppers, especially women shopping alone or with a friend and people with families in tow, are becoming afraid to shop in malls on Friday and Saturday nights. Often the home to several fast food restaurants and movie complexes, malls are a natural draw to teens looking for something to do on weekend nights. While most people agree the majority of teens aren’t problem-causers, it’s the ones who use foul language, shoplift, fight, and loiter who cause the hardship on others.

Out of the 1100 malls in the United States, more than 40, including Sawmill Square Mall in Laurel and Metrocenter Mall in Jackson, have implemented teen policies. Most of the teen policies were implemented during the past two years. While each policy varies, most of them place a ban on teens who are in the mall without parental supervision on weekend afternoons and nights. Some go a step further by banning teens without supervision at any time.

“These policies are not places saying they don’t want teens to shop in their centers,” International Council of Shopping Centers spokesperson Patrice Duker said. “They’re saying, ‘Bring a parent to shop with you.’”

That’s not necessarily sitting well with teens who truly want to shop. With a buying power of about $179 billion in the United States, 12 to 19-year-olds often find themselves unwelcome at malls without supervision.

“Teens do value customer service,” Rob Callender, a teen research specialist, said. “They feel a little put off if retailers are innately suspicious of them just because of their age group.”

Callender said teens may not be shopping a great deal every time they go to the mall, but many are looking for items for which they may have to save money for purchase, or even return later with a parent to buy.

“A lot of times, if teens go to the mall on a Friday night, they’re not looking to spend a lot of money,” Callender said. “All the time teens spend at the mall isn’t specifically for the purpose of power shopping.”

Upsetting some teens is a small price to pay for malls with the policy, many people say. Once the home to dozens of unruly teens on weekend nights, Metrocenter Mall in Jackson is seeing an increase in family spending.

“They would intimidate our other customers to the point where they didn’t even want to come in the door,” Director of Marketing Kymberly Woodard said. “From day one it’s been paying off.”

Sawmill Square Mall Director Bill McMullan also believes the parental escort policy is paying off.

“This escort policy,” McMullan previously told the Leader-Call, “just applies on weekend nights. As always, any loitering in or outside the mall will not be tolerated. We will always approach the person and ask them to leave. The parental escort policy has helped curb weekend incidents from eight to 12 down to about one, and we are now seeing families in the stores instead of individuals.”