Greenbriar Mall
Greenbriar Mall
“We didn’t have an indoor play area before but we’ve had interest in having one for a long time,” says Gwendolyn Motley, Director of Corporate Marketing with Hendon Properties, which owns Greenbriar Mall. “When we knew our 50th anniversary was coming, we thought, ‘What better way to kick off our festivities than by opening a new play area?’”
Located in southwest Atlanta, just seven miles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Greenbriar Mall takes great pride it its role in the community.
“Greenbriar opened in 1965 and it was the first enclosed mall in Atlanta,” says Motley. “It has a rich history as a true community center. We have families who brought their kids here in the 60s, then those kids grew up and went to college and now they are back here with their kids, and some of those kids have now had children of their own and they still shop at Greenbriar!”
When it came time to install a play area, Hendon executives faced a dilemma: Greenbriar Mall doesn’t have a center court like malls built more recently so they faced some space issues and sought Soft Play’s help.
Soft Play’s Little Footprints solutions are designed for customers with smaller budgets and smaller spaces. Little Footprints are pre-designed, turnkey play systems that can fit centers with corridors as narrow as 30 feet.
Hendon decided to place the new indoor play area in a court near several children’s stores.
“We chose the Woodland theme,” says Motley. “We have done a lot of work on our outside landscaping and it seemed like a good way to bring nature inside, too.”
Motley says the play area has been a huge hit since it opened on May 2.
“Everybody loves it!” she says. “The little kids and parents are very excited and so are the retailers. It’s too early to tell if their sales have increased but it helps drive even more traffic to their stores.”
She adds, “Working with Soft Play was a wonderful experience. So wonderful that we’re thinking about adding another play area at another center!”
