Aberdeen Mall Management seeks input from community

As a regional shopping center, the Aberdeen Mall is finding new ways to get input from the public on what stores they should add. The mall is owned by RockStep Capital - a full-service shopping center management company.

RockStep hired Space Jam Data to promote Facebook posts over the last few months asking community members what they wanted to see in the empty spaces.

"We know that one of the main ways to reach our consumers is now through social media, online type advertising, and Facebook is a great way to do that, so we hired a specialist in doing surveys on Facebook to reach out to our consumers. We've received thousands of responses," RockStep Capital Director of Acquisitions Beth Isaacson-Hoeft said.

Mall management is making sure to let the community know that their voices have been heard. According to Isaacson-Hoeft, they're able to privately respond to those who comment on the Facebook posts to let them know they received their suggestion and can give them feedback on what they're working on.

Food court options and children's activities were the most requested places to add inside the mall. It's two services that management was already looking at adding.

One of those requests has already been filled by Bounce Around Aberdeen. The space is filled with a variety of bounce houses where the kids are the priority.

"We just ask that they be safe at all times. No roughhousing, no jumping from bounce house to bounce house, but it is for kids to have fun. If they wanna scream, giggle, have a fun time, that's what they're here for," Bounce Around Aberdeen Manager Gail Stoltenberg said.

The bounce house play area opened on October 6th with plenty of parents taking advantage.

"We've even got people coming every week from Ellendale down here," Stoltenberg said. "A lot of people are using us for that pre-nap, pre-bedtime type place because kids are exhausting themselves."

RockStep Capital hopes to add more variety of services to the Aberdeen Mall.

"We don't wanna be just a one place shopping location. We wanna be a one place everything location and serve all of the needs of our consumers," Isaacson-Hoeft said.

Wishbone's Smokehouse and FarmBoys Soups, Salads and Spuds are the two food court additions that'll be open around the holiday shopping season. They are just steps away from the movie theater, so the owners hope people may arrive at their movie a little earlier to grab a bite.

If you have any ideas of what stores or activities should be added to the Aberdeen Mall, visit the mall Facebook page or website located to the right of the article. If you live in the Aberdeen area, you should see promoted posts from Space Jam Data in your Facebook newsfeed.

If you want more information on Bounce Around Aberdeen, you can find a link to their page to the right as well.