Closing of Eddie Bauer Outlet Mall due to security Concerns

Your information is maybe partly correct but I have another idea. If
they are closing it due to concern of someone being raped at the mall
restroom why are they waiting? Why stay open one minute longer if
safety is the real concern here? It is easy to say the holiday season
is too profitable but does that then state that the safety concerns
could be ignored if the money is right?

If any one would wish to dig deeper there are employees who might talk
if there is anything to say. There might be a story there if someone
would care to seek the truth enough to protect those who might be
willing to speak if there was something to say. The employees might be
forced into silence by threats of severance being denied and they
might have been forced to sign a waiver as well.

So why close it? Someone should talk to the mall office about the
official lease expiring story instead of Eddie Bauer or better yet
seek out the few employees that might be willing to talk if there was
another story here.

I cannot offer more freely. I might be one of those forced.

Karen:

I applaud your willingness to take action to try and improve your
community. I wish more people attempted to get out and make a
difference (no matter how small).

I've read through all your replies and I understand that you've had a
really rough year and I hope 2010 is better for you.

Good luck.

I read in one of your replies that you called the HQ - what did they
say?

Have you gotten any sort of response at all? Are they relocating this
store or closing down completely? If they are relocating, then it
make sense that crime is a factor, if not, I would suspect that the
location is not as profitable as you believe. It is doubtful to me
(based on my own retail experience) that Eddie Bauer would discuss
with you (or any non employee) the profitability of a single store -
or that it would be correctly represented anyway.

Hopefully there is some effort to place the employees or at least a
parting package for them. Hopefully your efforts to improve your
community make an impact - if you haven't already, you might want to
contact the police deparmtent - there should be a community liaison
officer who might be able to suggest ways to help in general.

good luck.

99% of people here are not going to call the mall, no matter how many
times you provide the phone number. This is a local issue. And I
don't think it's ever a good idea for people to act on third-hand
information in this manner. IF this is a huge issue, then the people
who live there and who have read and seen the actual news reports are
the best people to make any demands of a local business.

Is this the Woodland Mall? If so, it's been going downhill for years
and I think EB's decision has more to do with their profits than lack
of security.

I agree with a lot of people here that rent-a-cop security does very
little to deter or defend against a crime. I don't think it would
have stopped that little girl from being raped in the bathroom.

I think it's horrible that the area has changed this way. My husband
used to take a lot of service calls in this area and I worry now if he
has to go somewhere out that way, especially later in the evening.

The reasoning about slowing down because there might be a cop is a
little different. They are licensed by the state, have requirements
and clearances and often have tasers and a gun. Security rarely has
either, and don't have the same kind of training and requirements that
a cop has.

DH used to have to work on ATMs at night, which meant the company had
to send a security guard to be with him while he did it. It was
usually some frail 80 year old man. I fail to see how it would have
been much of a deterrent.

...and thats probably why this particular store is closing. I also
want to point out that security guards (aka rent-a-cops) do not deter
crime. Most banks in my area have 2 security guards-one inside the
bank and one outside and they still get robbed. The same thing goes
for the grocery stores, in fact one grocery story has been robbed at
gunpoint ATLEAST 4 times this year. A woman was raped in a bathroom on
the campus of the local junior college, even though classes were in a
session and campus security was out in full force. So I fail to see
your logic.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility? A little girl gets raped
in a public bathroom and its the mall's fault? Where were the parents?
I'm not placing blame on them in any way because I don't know the
details but why was their child allowed to go into a public bathroom
alone?
Maybe I've become a little too cynical, seeing as how my city just had
its 27th homicide at 11am this morning and we now have one of the
highest murder rates PER CAPITA in the United States, but I fail to
see how security guards will prevent these crimes from happening. Its
time for the people to stand up and take their city's back. Its time
for ZERO TOLERANCE. Believe it or not, 911 is your friend. Report
everything and anything.

Here's how the OP describes her community: "The Holland-Zeeland area
is not the sleepy community I grew up in anymore, there is crime here,
rapes, gang activity, shootings, stabbings. A women should not have to
worry about using the restroom or being attacked walking to her car in
the parking lot."

There is no way I would ever set foot in Holland, if this is what it
has devolved into. Why take the risk? Why should anyone expect any
business to set up shop there, either?

I know crime is everywhere, but crime doesn't define most places. I'll
stay away from those places that are defined mainly by their criminal
activity. Holland, I guess, is now one of them, just like Detroit. (I
live in Grand Rapids, by the way.)

If you feel there should be a security guard at the mall have you
written a letter to the mall owners or management company?

that if Eddie Bauer made the decision to close this store, it was not
a security issue. Corporations like this don't close profitable
locations over isolated (one incident) safety concerns. If it was
that bad, the local police would have intervened.

It's sad that there are such sick people out there, but it's even
sadder that people insist on living their lives in constant fear. If
you spend all your time Googling sex offenders and looking over your
shoulder everywhere you go, you're bound to find crime and depravity.
That's no way to live.

I'm still of mixed feelings on this.

As for EB ... I hold no judgement for or against them. It's their
company they can do with it what they want.


as for the mall itself, the question really is...


Would added security have stopped this from happening?

And I'm not sure it would have.


In order for security to have prevented this, they would have had to
have been in or around the bathroom at the time of the attack.

Even with added security, even with the guards walking rounds, there
would have been periods of time where a guard is not in/around the
bathroom.

And I know this for a fact because I've done this kind of work in the
Navy.

In order for "added security" to have prevented a bathroom attack you
would have to station a guard at each bathroom area. In the entire
mall.


And let's say the attacker is forcing the victim to be silent, to not
scream... that would mean that - in order to stop the attack - the
guard would have to be INSIDE the bathroom.



So is the mall at fault for not having a guard in each bathroom?
Does anyone know of ANY mall that has this?



The other option of course is much less costly, but just as
effective.... The parent accompanies his or her child to the toilet.



i know the parent of the child is very upset... and that might be why
the mall is being blamed...

but i also know it's easier to blame someone else than look the child
in the eye and say "it was my fault. yes that man attacked you, but
if i had been there you would have been safe"

The rape, tragic though it was, is one incident. The big question is
whether this was an isolated incident or if there are true risks of
other crimes happening at that mall. If Eddie Bauer is pulling out of
the mall due to the lack of security guards, then someone at Eddie
Bauer believes the risk of violent crime is a reality at that
location.

That speaks poorly for the mall and the area it is in.

Pointing fingers at the offender and the parents for this one incident
will not prevent further incidents if the criminal element already is
present. No one has the right to rob our homes, but we put locks on
our doors just because we know of the possibility of someone robbing
us.

If the mall has knowledge of the high risk of crimes happening to its
patrons, it has a duty to provide protection for them if it continues
to invite them onto its property.

THE OUTLET MALL IS CALLED HOLLAND TOW CENTER YOU CAN CALL THEM AND
VOICE YOUR CONCERNS AT 616-396-1808 EXTENTION 127 PLEASE CALL PEOPLE
OF WESTERN MICHIGAN YOUR VOICE MAY WELL MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO KEEP THE
RETAIL WORKERS AND OUR COMMUNITY SHOPPING AT THE MALL SAFE! THANKS!

The offender needed to be locked up BEFORE this 10year old was
violated! He had accosted 2 girls at a local college Spring of 2008.
The laws need to be changed and the BAD GUYS locked up! HE was a
ticking time bomb!

You should be fighting to change the laws in your community, perhaps
that's a better way for you to approach this issue.

I fail to see how this is Eddie Bauer's fault, this is an issue for
the mall itself.

The young girl who got raped was FOUR YEARS OLD. Her parents should
be prosecuted for being idiots for letting a child that young go into
a bathroom unattended. It's obvious that a parent was nowhere near
the restroom.

at the mall. But your approach makes sense - if these retailers add
some weight to the call for security, you might get results. I would
suggest writing to the *open* stores, though. EB has already pulled
out, so they may not care. The others have more at stake.
Good luck, and I applaud you for caring about your community.