NEWSPAPER SPONSORS LOUNGE AREAS AT SHOPPING MALL

By: Steve Yahn and Drew Holland In Boston, Shop Till You Drop, Then Scan the Headlines





Community Newspaper Co. (CNC) President and Chief Operating Officer Kirk Davis and Natick Mall General Manager James E. Elliman Jr. have created three comfy lounge areas at the shopping mall. These "sponsored soft-seating amenity" areas are the first of their kind in Boston's western suburbs, an area of increasing newspaper competitiveness.



The idea, of course, is that weary shoppers will plop down, cross their legs, and relax - with complimentary copies of CNC's MetroWest Daily News within easy reach, as luck would have it.



The New York Times Co.-owned Boston Globe has pushed to expand its share of this affluent market, but the MetroWest Daily News, CNC's largest daily, still dominates. The Globe has stepped up its presence by launching a semiweekly news section, "Globe West."



The battle for the western suburbs was heightened late last month when the Boston Herald's parent company announced it would buy Fidelity Investments-owned CNC, a chain of four dailies, 88 weeklies, and shopper and specialty publications, which have a combined distribution of 900,000.



Out of the clash comes comfort. The reading lounges - which are placed next to anchor stores in the massive Natick Mall, which has 170 retail stores and draws 16 million visitors a year - "feature couches and chairs, a carpet to rest shopping bags, a coffee table to set a beverage, attractive plants, and complimentary copies of the MetroWest Daily News," said CNC Vice President of Marketing Communications Robin Lorenzen. In addition, she said, the MetroWest Daily News will open a retail cart between the Macy's and Filene's courts; featured will be the sale of the Daily News' Sunday paper.



Lorenzen said CNC also will partner with the mall on "Merry Munchkins Shopping Night, Santa's arrival, and more." Say "holiday shopping season?"



Kathy Sarette, marketing manager at the mall, did not couch her enthusiasm. "These new seating areas are sure to be popular places for our customers to take a break from shopping," she said. And get a second wind to shop some more.







Copright 2000, Editor & Publisher.