It’s tough to keep everyone happy on Valentine’s Day. Singles get prickly, and even couples are cooling on the holiday. In fact, according to Brand Key’s bi-annual Consumer Loyalty Engagement Index, the amount people in the US intend to spend this Valentines has dropped by 15%. Tough crowd.

But St. Stephen’s is doing its best to make Valentines fun for all of its grown-up shoppers. For starters, one lucky couple will recieve a romantic makeover and date thanks the UK shopping center. And couples will also enjoy salsa dancing lessons throughout the afternoon and evening of Valentine’s Day.

And St. Stephen’s hasn’t left out the singles. The evening will be closed out with a free, professionally-run speed dating event. So for shoppers willing to take a chance there might just be a shot at love. Or, at worst, a free drink and a few fresh conversations.

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.

Canberra Centre, in ACT, Australia is ensuring that its cinema does more for it than bring in off-hours customers.

To celebrate the upcoming release of He’s Just Not That Into You, Dendy Cinemas at Canberra Centre is holding a Ladies Night. Along with a special screening of the film, the ladies attending the showing will get sparkling wine, and more importantly, a gift pack of products, offers and deals from mall retailers.

Not only is this a nice deal for everyone involved, but it’s well timed. Film is one industry thought to be fairly recession proof, since inexpensive escapist entertainment is a usually popular during downturns. This is a great time to be joining forces with mall cinemas.

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 …

This week, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. The rest of the world might also benefit from some time spent with family, with good hearty food and a reminder that there are things to be thankful for.

But while we can be thankful with or without a holiday, it’s the day after Thanksgiving that US malls and retailers look forward to (and that mall employees dread). On Friday, shoppers will be out in force, looking for crazy deals and huge discounts to kick off the Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and the sales are enough to bring the shoppers in.

But in a nice touch, The Summit in Nevada, US, is giving a little bit back to its shoppers. Shoppers who aren’t already in line for a doorcrasher elsewhere in the mall can line up in the morning for a gift – a mystery gift card that will be worth anywhere from $10 to $500. For shoppers on a budget, that might be the detail that drives them to The Summit over other area malls.  It will certainly help spread a little good will and cheer on a busy, stressful day.