The holiday season hasn't officially arrived, but in the world of retail, it's never too early to decorate.
"We still have a little bit left to go," said Jennie Zafft, marketing manager at the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes. "We've got a lot of wreaths that we're going to be incorporating."
Christmas décor is commonplace for retailers by the time Black Friday rolls around, yet when shoppers descend upon the Shoppes at Arbor Lakes in the coming weeks, that's not the only change they'll notice.
"Basically what we did is, all the areas where we had parallel parking, we went in and we reduced the width of the sidewalk and we installed angled parking," Zafft said.
The project that began in September allowed the Shoppes to add 106 parking spaces, increase visibility for drivers by getting rid of center medians and eliminate parallel parking.
So far, the reaction from shoppers has been positive.
"I really like it because I don't like to parallel park, so I never parked in here," said Michelle Rickard Hempe of Maple Grove.
"This is amazing," said Suzie Liedl of Maple Grove. "It's the best thing, I think. Whoever thought it up is a genius cause it is so good."
Parking changes help business too
Shoppers aren't the only ones pleased with the parking changes. Mary Krogsgaard owns Dazzle Me Fashions, a women and children's boutique.
She says the previous parking design caused challenges.
"It was so few parking spaces that we didn't get as many customers because there were maybe eight or 10 parking spaces versus what we have now," Krogsgaard said.
With the construction complete, she has high hopes for what the added spaces will mean for her bottom line.
"I think it's going to have a very positive effect on all of us, especially with winter coming, because they can park closer to the stores instead of having to park in a parking ramp or out in the lot," Krogsgaard said.
It's a significant upgrade for the 12-year-old shopping center, and it comes just in time for the holiday shopping season.
"This was very, very good," said Liedl. "And good timing."
Delane Cleveland
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Channel 12 is on Comcast cable in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.
