Cape Girardeau mall drops part of name

Christina Kelley wasn't surprised to learn that Westfield Shoppingtown West Park was dropping "Shoppingtown" from its name -- she never knew the word was part of it.

"I just say 'the mall,'" said the 22-year-old Southeast Missouri State University student from Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

Kelley had that in common with a lot of mall-goers last week, who had no idea that Shoppingtown had been part of the name since 1998, when Westfield started splashing the name across its U.S. properties as part of a branding strategy.

Shoppers thought it was sort of odd, too long or confusing.

Westfield shortened its name to Westfield West Park on Sunday. The Australian-based property management company manages 126 shopping malls in four countries and bought the Cape Girardeau mall in 1993.

The company has decided that "Westfield" is the brand name consumers use and recognize, said Paul Dobbins, manager of the Cape Girardeau shopping center.

"In the markets we are in, 80 percent of the customers recognize the Westfield brand," Dobbins said. "In Australia, people say they're going to the Westfield."

When asked if the name Westfield Shoppingtown West Park was a bit too clunky, Dobbins said it really wasn't about that.

"It's more of an issue of understanding that Westfield wants to concentrate on the name Westfield and not so much on Shoppingtown," he said. "It's not that it didn't catch on. It's the fact that it's easier to recognize Westfield."

All the Westfield properties are slated for the name change, but don't expect signage to change immediately. Dobbins said signs would reflect the new name only when they need replacing. Two signs have already been changed -- the one marking the administrative offices and a nearby rest room.

Those who were at the mall on Friday said that it really didn't matter to them what the official name was and that they would call it want they want. But they agreed that Westfield Shoppingtown West Park was too cumbersome.

"That's a long name," said Helen Buerck of Perryville, Mo., as she sipped a drink in one of the eating areas. "It's always been just 'the mall.'"

Steve Rhine of Gideon, Mo., drives 85 miles to go to Westfield. He still calls it West Park Mall.

"It's what it's always been to me," he said. "People around here are notorious for hating change. Westfield can call it what they want, but it's still the mall to everyone I know."

Some Westfield tenants across the country have also continued to use old names in ads and on their Web sites.

Mary Ann Sample, owner of Baby Camelot in the mall, laughed when she heard the name was being changed.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said.

Sample said it would be different if there were several malls in the area. Names are important in larger cities like St. Louis, which has many malls.

"But in Cape it doesn't matter," she said. "It's the mall."

Bruce Domazlicky, director of the Center for Economic and Business Research at Southeast, said that apparently Westfield didn't think the Shoppingtown moniker was helping them.

"They must have thought that if wasn't making much difference in the number of shoppers in the store, there was no need to keep it," he said. "My own personal opinion is that's it's more than a mouthful."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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