Back in business: Malls take safety precautions as stores reopen

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Mills Mall and the now-renovated Fashion District are implementing safety precautions as they reopen their doors to welcome back customers.

“We have our welcome stations at ‘9th and Market’ and also ‘11th and Filbert.’ So if anyone forgot their mask, they can grab a mask. We have hand-sanitizer throughout the whole entire property & everyone’s just keeping their distance. We have a lot of signage indicating 6 feet apart to ensure everyone’s following social distance rules.”

Randy Giandonato, owner of The Beef Jerky Experience at the Fashion District, says that opening his restaurant up could not happen soon enough.

“It’s been great (to open). We’ve been closed down about three months now and it’s been hard hit for everybody, it’s been a long time coming and we’ve just been waiting to open the door and it’s been great so far,” he said.

After seeing a small number of customers, Giandonato also says that he’s hopeful the announcement of  reopening will attract more. 

“Just trying to get everybody back in the mall and experiencing the new fashion district and everything and just getting the word out about our store,” he said.

Frank is also optimistic, and hopes that more stores will reopen as weeks progress.

“We’re about 70 percent open right now. Unfortunately we’re not able to open our entertainment tenants until a later point. But we have a decent amount of people open today ready to go,” she said.

Customers say that they are happy to have something else to do, rather than staying at home. 

“It’s great, yeah! It’s better than being cooped up inside for sure.”

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