SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After closing for over a month due to the coronavirus pandemic, Arden Fair Mall is reopening the mall for in-person shopping.
At the start of The Coronavirus pandemic, the only stores allowed to have in-person shopping were stores that had outdoor entrances. All other stores could only do curbside pickup.
The mall has not had indoor use of the mall since mid-July.
That changed on Monday, Aug. 31 when California launched a new tiered reopening system. The new system allows businesses that have been closed due to The Coronavirus to reopen with modifications.
On Facebook Arden Fair officials wrote, "In accordance with the Governor’s Ordinance, Arden Fair will be open starting today, August 31, for shoppers to visit retailers choosing to reopen under current state guidelines."
"So the major modification for the mall and retailers is going to be the 25% occupancy," said Nathan Spradlin, Senior Marketing Manager for Arden Fair.
A lot of the businesses in the mall decided to open up as the mall itself opened up, too.
"We had over 90 retailers open today, which is over 50% of our retailers and much higher than we were anticipating on day one," said Spradlin.
Spradlin says that the mall should be able to accommodate people easily, but for smaller stores, there may need to be lines to get into stores.
"Customers need to make sure they understand there will be some patience needed to get into their retailer," said Spradlin. "So far today, there hasn’t been a lot of need to turn guests away, but I have seen a lot of areas that social queuing has needed to occur."
The mall says it "intensified" cleaning, added social distancing signs and provided hand sanitizing stations in the mall to help comply with social distancing guidelines.
Many of the services and amenities of the mall, like wheelchair and stroller rentals, will remain unavailable for the time being. This includes food court seating, water fountains and the children's play area, according to Arden Fair.
While the food court seating area is not open, there is still space for guests to sit. Spradlin said Arden Fair created an outdoor seating area on the upper level near the Sears garage so that people can sit outside of the mall and that they will continue to expand the area as they need.
"We want to create a nice, healthy environment where they can do that," said Spradlin.
ARDEN FAIR MALL HOURS
- Monday - Saturday: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sundays: Noon to 6 p.m.
The above hours are listed for stores accessed inside of Arden Fair, individual stores may also have their own hours.
For a full list of the stores offering in-person shopping, curbside pickup and restaurants offering takeout are on the mall's website.
