NORTH CHARLESTON, SC — Starting next month, anyone under the age of 18 will not be allowed to roam the Northwoods Mall unless they have an adult with them on the weekends.
Mall officials detailed their new “Youth Escort Policy” in a press release on Thursday. Effective September 16th, all mall visitors under the age of the 18 will need to be accompanied by an adult or guardian over the age 21 on Fridays and Saturdays.
“We hope that it changes the environment here on Friday and Saturday nights,” said Stacy Keating, a spokesperson for the LLC that owns Northwoods.
Keating says the decision was not made after one particular incident, but after feedback from retailers and customers that unsupervised youth caused frequent disturbances.
Charleston County Dispatch has responded to more than 800 emergency calls at Northwoods this year ranging from theft, drugs and vandalism.
“This policy is only in effect for 6 hours that the 72 hours the mall is open,” added Keating.
Northwoods Mall is the first indoor shopping center in the Lowcountry to implement such a policy and the second in South Carolina.
Mall officials say teens who are under 18 that work at the mall will be issued special ID cards because of the policy.