Exchange Tower in Ontario, CA found that it was losing food court customers to nearby eateries on hot summer days. To combat this trend last summer, the center came up with a clever promotion that succeeded at bringing in a lot of attention.

The “Bean Out to Lunch Lately?” promotion offered shoppers a reward for their lunchtime loyalty. Small packages with jellybeans and a printed “passport” were handed out to visitors. The passport was a stamp card for food court retailers. If shoppers ate at six different food retailers over a three week period and got their passports stamped to prove it, they’d receive a free ice cream treat to fight the heat, and they’d automatically be entered into a $500 draw.

As an added bonus, the cards could be registered online for a daily $50 draw. Exchange Tower saw great results from this – a 73% increase in website traffic, and a 36% redemption rate for the passport.

It seems like UK shopping center The Potteries is always coming up with great ideas. For this Valentine’s Day, the shopping center is partaking in a bit of romance, and a bit of family fun.

The first promotion is sweet and simple. Over the course of a week, shoppers can pick up and register numbered coins at customer service, and toss them into the center’s fountain. One lucky couple will have their coin plucked from the fountain, and they’ll be off for a romantic trip to Rome.

The second promotion is a bit more fun. Families of four can enter for a chance to compete in the Big Love-In Weekend. The 13 chosen families will compete to prove that they are the most romantic, and the family with the most points will win a family holiday to Disneyland Paris.

At Shopping Center Weekly and Tactics Magazine, we’re constantly looking for great marketing ideas and initiatives. And in this tough economic climate, shopping centers everywhere could use ideas that work. So if your shopping center is doing (or has done) something interesting, original or unique, we want to hear about it. Send us your press releases, anecdotes, stories and pictures. We want to hear your tales of success, and so do our readers from shopping centers around the world.

You can reach us at newsletter@tacticsmagazine.com for stories and ideas suited to the newsletter and blog. If your story has more depth and scope, you can also contact our Editor in Chief, Myriam Beaugé.

We can’t wait to hear from you.

Backing UK Retail: The heart of the community

Retail Week, UK

If it wasn’t for Bluewater there might still be a Kent wasteland sitting by the side of the M25. And had Meadowhall not been built, a derelict Sheffield steelworks might be in an even worse state of disrepair by now.  These are just two major schemes that have breathed life into previously desolate corners of the UK …

Nimblest retailers will trump hard times

Montreal Gazette, CA

Marianne Hassan has one rule when it comes to surviving the recession: when the going gets tough, the tough deliver personally. Despite declining sales since November, the owner of Ottawa’s high-end lingerie boutique, BraChic, hasn’t taken the bad news lying down. Determined not just to maintain but increase her clientele, Hassan says she’s had to become creative in running her business …

Staines shoppers surprised by free cash giveaway

Staines Guardian, UK

Surprised shoppers were handed free money in Staines – but some cynical customers turned the notes down fearing it was too good to be true …

Simon Property cuts hours at area malls

Boston Herald, US

There’s more fallout in the struggling retail industry: fewer hours to shop at local malls. Simon Property Group has cut the hours of operation for its New England malls, as has the CambridgeSide Galleria. The reductions follow one of the worst holiday sales seasons on record and a decline in consumer spending and mall foot traffic …

Officials launch contest to rename Inland Empire mall

ABC, US

A contest to rename the Indio Fashion Mall is underway, it was reported Saturday. Mall officials began advertising the contest this week with a sign outside Indio’s largest shopping center, which is located at state Route 111 and Monroe Street, according to the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs …

Free mammograms at shopping centres

Sydney Morning Herald, AU

Move over, late-night shopping. The latest fashion in retail is late-night mammograms. The world’s first drop-in breast screening clinic inside a department store opened at Myer Parramatta yesterday with the aim of encouraging women to get a breast check on the way to the checkout …

Shopping Centre council predicts better second half to year

CBC, CA

Retailers can expect a sharp decline in sales in the first half, but the climate is expected to improve in the second half, predicted Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centres. “2009 will be a transition year,” Niemira said, in a conference call with the media Thursday …

Late-nite shopping culture ‘will take time’

Leicester Mercury, UK

Bosses at Leicester’s Highcross shopping centre said creating a late-night shopping culture in the city would take time to build up. They spoke out following complaints from staff who are unhappy at being asked to work until 8pm even though the shops are deserted in the evenings …

It seems like there’s a world record being set for just anything and everything these days. Recently we’ve covered plans for the most simultaneous star jumps and the largest shoe tower. Now a number of Canadian malls, including Guildford Town Centre, are working together to set the record for Most Children Reading with an Adult. Malls across the country are inviting shoppers to bring their kids in to be read to, an activity that’s shown to have great benefits for children. It’s all part of celebrating Family Literacy Day.

These events draw a lot of media attention, so it might be worthwhile to brainstorm ideas for a world record your mall could set. The record doesn’t have to exist already, so be creative. You can set records for a single location or multiple locations, so consider a joint effort. Any ideas coming to you yet?