CAIRO: Last week, sources at CityStars told Daily News Egypt that different strategies were being vetted out to deal with the tremendous increase in the number of visitors to the mall, especially during weekends. One of these strategies entails making Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays family days, during which individual visitors would be required to use a special access card. Shoppers can also use the card inside the mall and be granted discounts on their purchases. In principle, many CityStars patrons interviewed by Daily News Egypt agreed that measures should be taken to reduce the idle crowds of young men loitering around the mall. Stars Center administration is trying to alleviate this problem by introducing some form of entry fees. Many complain that these crowds spoil the shopping experience, especially for female shoppers. I agree that on weekends, CityStars sucks, said Mai Daoud, an advertising executive, The crowds are horrendous and the whole experience is not fun anymore. A lot of people go there just to hang out, not to shop or eat or go to the movies, she added, it makes sense to charge them, to tell them not to come if they are not planning on using the facilities offered by the mall. Hossam Nassef, a student at the Arab Academy of Science and Technology, agrees. I really hope they [impose entry fees]. Just go in and see how girls, whether veiled or not, young or old, are getting harassed by people who just go to the mall to check out girls. Many of the patrons interviewed told Daily News Egypt that there should be a set of rules established that apply to everyone, rather than giving security guards the discretionary power to say who gets in and who does not. According to these mall regulars, this is what happened during the last Eid vacation. Others were skeptical about the efficacy of the policy. If the entry fee is small, I think everybody would [pay it and] enter regardless, said Salma El Baradie, a career advisor. On the other hand, if it s too high, nobody would want to go at all. Some of the mall s visitors were infuriated by the mere thought of introducing entry fees. This is a retarded act, it s a mall for God s sake, said Yasmine Khater, an exchange project manager. I would never go to CityStars again. They would lose so much money if they implemented this policy. Details about the exact policy that will be implemented are yet to be revealed, which is adding to the confusion. Many are wondering what qualifies as a family unit, whether the card will have an expiration date, and if people going to the movies will also have to pay. Why should I pay LE 10 to enter when I have to pay for parking as well as for any purchases or drinks? asked El Baradie, It gives CityStars a bad image. It s pretty unfair to charge people who actually go to the mall and spend a lot of money on food, clothes, and the like, said Daoud, If you are just going to have a meal in CityStars, you ll spend about LE 50-100 so it will be ridiculous if someone at the door asks you to pay LE 10. Daoud also said that people going to the movies or to one of the restaurants should be exempt from the possible entry fee by showing their receipt. "People can go to Chili s or the movies somewhere else and CityStars shouldn t lose these customers. But some people who initially opposed the idea of imposing an entry fee, think it is the only way to improve the overall shopping experience. I am annoyed by the idea . I don't think it exists anywhere else in the world, said Nagwa El Saadani, a public relations manager, but considering how annoyingly crowded CityStars and all the areas around it have become - especially on weekends - the idea is not such a bad one, after all. Imposing entry fees will minimize the already limited hangout options in Cairo for those who cannot afford to pay the minimum charges imposed at many cafes, restaurants and clubs. Additionally, sports clubs membership fees have become exorbitant. I think that the principle of imposing fees is a manifestation of bad capitalism,' and this leads to social fragmentation, said Mohamed El Mongy, a development studies scholar. On the long run, this will break the social cohesion of the Egyptian society as it has done in the last 10 or 15 years. On the business side of things, this move could possibly anger many of the business owners in the mall. A licensee of several clothing and accessories international brands with several branches in Stars Center described these measures as illogical, threatening to pull out of the mall if the administration was to take such an action. Doing business in CityStars is not that lucrative anymore because of the costly parking fees, he said, preferring to remain anonymous. People already pay too much to get into the mall, which is not the case in any other mall in the world. The branches he recently opened in Carrefour, where parking is free, are doing much better than their counterparts in CityStars, he said, adding that the sales in the entire mall are going down because of the high parking fees and the new entrance rules. Making it difficult for high school kids and university students to enter the mall will have its repercussions on my business, he added, these kids, particularly students of international schools and private universities, constitute a big chunk of my clients. The fees we are paying to the mall are increasing annually, he said. Why don t they use this money to hire more qualified security guards to stop harassment instead of taking the easy way out by making it even more difficult for people to get in?
