Preparing Your Shopping Center For The Holidays

Yes, yes, I know. We are not even to Halloween yet. Retail shops start preparing for the winter rush in August, so you, the mall-owner, are actually behind the ball. How can you make sure that your landscape is ready for the onslaught on time?

Perform An Inspection

You want to catch weak points early, before the Halloween-candy crazed kiddos find them. Make sure the sprinklers are all in working order and the lawn is ready for traffic. You will want to shore up the hardscapes against the cold weather. If you have fountains or similar water features, you will want to check that they are patched up and ready for winter.

Consider New Hardscapes

You might want to consider paths in particular. Well-placed paths will spare your lawn the pain of thousands of customers taking ‘shortcuts’ across them. Consider putting in water permeable materials so that you cut down on your puddles now that it is starting to rain more.


Additionally, now that many flowers are going dormant, it is a good time to try out the decorative and practical benefits of benches and walkways. They can give your shopping center the extra touch that gets people in your doors instead of shopping online.

Trim Your Trees

You do not want to be salvaging tree branches during the Christmas rush, but that is exactly when the combination of heavy ice and frequent storms will do in your more fragile trees. Save yourself future headaches by taking off weak branches and branches that are too close to windows.

Have Your Irrigation System Winterized

Non-winterized systems can burst and damage your property. Empty out pipes that won’t be used during the winter and make sure no drains are clogged with leaves.