Lastnight, at the Arden Fair Mall, they held their "Trick or Treat Street". Basically this is businesses in the community helping children by giving back. This was sponsored by Adren Fair Mall, 107.9 FM The End, and Kindercare.

I would like to start off by saying that I think they did a fabulous job in organizing this function. There had to be a couple thousand children in attendance, and of course there my wife and I were with our two youngsters. Usually when it comes to a community function, I will take it for what it's worth and not complain. However, in this case, since this is my own blog, I am going to take this opportunity to complain a bit.

I was surprised to see that there were alot of orange papers hanging in the windows of quite a few merchants. On the piece of paper, was the outline of a pumpkin, and the words "Sorry, we are all out of candy". I found this a bit odd as the function just started and they were all out. It wasn't like they had a mad rush, ran out of candy, and slapped up a hand written sign. No, these signs were prepared in advance. So as we made our way around the mall, there were more and more of these signs in windows.

I thought, ok, smaller stores may not have the purchasing power ($40 - $50) that the large anchor stores would. Well guess what, not one of the anchors gave out candy. I was floored. At this mall Sears, Macys, JC Penny, and a Nordstroms are the anchors.

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to get something for nothing. But if the mall is having a function geared toward children, I think the anchor stores should participate. I have been in retail management for the past 15 years, and every year we do something for the kids to help make their Halloween a safe one. Listed below are just a few of the stores that did not participate. The list is NOT complete as I could not remember all of them, but here are a few:

Sears
JC Penny
Macys
Nordstroms
Pearl Vision
Zumiez
Lady Foot Locker
Kids Foot Locker
Bonsai Gifts
Apple
Radio Shack (Handed out candy, but one girl kept telling the other, "Hurry up and give them hand fulls so we can quit early)
Nextel

As a parent I am very thankful to everyone that participated in this function. As a consumer, I am very disappointed in the stores that did not. I will certainly be voicing my disappointment in those stores to friends and family.