After being contacted by the Dayton Daily News about the later opening time, the mall reached a compromise with a local mall walker group that would involve opening the mall doors, starting with the food court, at 10:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
“We are always reevaluating the Mall at Fairfield Common’s operating hours, operational procedures and policies to ensure a clean, safe and comfortable experience for our guests and retailers,” General Manager Ashley Mays said in a statement Wednesday.
“The Mall at Fairfield Common’s new mall walking hours more closely align with our retailers’ hours in order for us to maintain the highest quality standards during the time when our retailers and eateries are open for business.”
Mall hours for retail tenants start at 11 a.m., mall leadership said.
Mary Standridge said she is part of a “mall walkers” group of about 40 to 50 members who have enjoyed the mall space in the morning as a “safe and enjoyable place to walk where it’s not raining or snowing.”
Standridge and other walkers said Wednesday that the 10:30 a.m. opening time was a decent compromise.
“We can work with it,” she said.
The elimination of morning hours was a “sudden change,” Standridge told the Dayton Daily News Tuesday. “Nobody told us, except for the sign. Nobody asked us. Nobody has even been there to talk to. So we’re really wanting to reach out and have a conversation with them.”
Melveen Dunham, 90, says she has been walking at the Mall at Fairfield Commons for 15 years. Though the group can still walk during the revised hours, doing so is more difficult, with larger crowds, and customers going both directions, she said.
“There’s a lot of them who have walkers and canes and so forth, and it’s just not the same,” she said. “We all go one direction when we walk.”
The group gathered 48 signatures for a petition to Fairfield Commons’ parent company, Washington Prime Group, asking them to reverse the change, before they were stopped by mall security, Standridge said. Fairfield Commons does not allow signature gathering on its premises.
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