Chess players getting chucked out of mall

Associated Press ^ | Dec 1, 2005

[kingattax]

IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. (AP) - They're too loud. They hog the seats at the food court. Often they don't even buy anything. So now they're being kicked out of the mall. Teenagers? Try chess players.

The new owners of the Medley Center have banned chess and card games, effectively removing a group that has been playing chess at the suburban Rochester mall for years. They can play only from 8 to 10 a.m., when the mall is open to walkers.

"I really feel we've gotten jilted," 70-year-old retired salesman Ray Licata said in Thursday's Democrat and Chronicle.

Mall owner Adam Bersin said food-court seats full of people who aren't eating don't fit with his vision.

"It's kind of tough for (vendors) to see 15 guys sitting in the food court eating food they brought in from the outside," Bersin said.

It's equally irritating, he added, "if you're a mother with a 3-year-old in your arms and you can't get a seat in the food court when you're tired or hungry and then there's a bunch of guys standing around being loud."

The mall, formerly the Irondequoit Mall, is undergoing a rebirth after some hard times. Licata and others say the ban is especially aggravating because they stuck with the mall through the lean years, when retailers were fleeing and shoppers stayed away in droves.

The ban became effective Thursday, but Bersin said he was thinking of giving the players some leeway while they find a new place to play.

[gubamyster]

I'll bet they wouldn't be pushing around these chess players:

By Hook or by Rook

In chessboxing, contestants match moves on the board one round, in the ring the next. Checkmate is as good as a knockout.

[flashbunny]

--"It's kind of tough for (vendors) to see 15 guys sitting in the food court eating food they brought in from the outside," Bersin said.---

The food court is there for customers to eat food they bought from the vendors.

Not to provide a place for people to play chess inside.

Find a community center if you want to sit at a table all day and play chess inside.

[flashbunny]

But the mall owner will be happy to tell you (out of the other side of his mouth) "The mall is today's town square and meeting place..."


And so what if they do?

They make their money by people buying stuff once they're there. They don't make money by people sitting around, taking up seats from other customers.

They let them have the same use of the mall as the morning mall workers. That's generous enough. I can't believe anyone is so pathetic and whiney that they would complain about a mall telling them they can't take up valuable food court space to play chess all day (And not buy any food!)

[flashbunny]

oh dear lord, grow up.

The food court seats are there for one reason: People eat the food they buy at the food courts.

Your kumbaya handwringing doesn't put money in the cash registers, which in turn puts money in the pockets of the employees.

You have 15 tables taken up with chess players who don't buy food, and you lose customers who would buy food. Customers that use those very same tables when they patronize the many restaurants that are part of the food court.

Cut down customers, cut down revenue. Cut down revenue, cut down on employees or maybe put it out of business.

All so some crybabies don't have to find somewhere else to sit around and play chess.

Of course, in your world, the restaurants can simply pay their employees with the warm and fuzzy thoughts they get from knowing some chess players don't have to find a community center where they can play the same exact games of chess.

Your little emotional rant is akin to something a liberal would come up with - it's all touchy-feely, intentions not results, ignoring reality from you.

[irv]

The crime rate was what killed the Irondequoit mall before. somehow kicking out the folks who DON'T cause trouble seems exceptionally stupid.

[cowboyway]

Next thing you know, they'll be running bums outta city parks.

Gosh!

[kenth]

But I'm old and entitled to whatever I want.

[ml/nj]

The food court is there for customers to eat food they bought from the vendors.

The mall is renting space to people who hope to sell things. My guess is that at least some of the chessplayers occasionally need something that is for sale at that mall or elsewhere. Chasing them elsewhere is foolish.

The mall nearest where I live did something similar. A "Park and Ride" had been established there. Except at the height of the Christmas season, no shopper ever would come remotely close to the "Park and Ride" area. But now (after 20 years or so) they have severely limited the number of spots commuters can use all year long. Now showing up there around 8 AM is a crap shoot. And just as bad they don't allow the busses in at all after 11:30 PM. So I don't go to that mall anymore as a reaction to their stupidity. (And I'm not even a commuter, but I did have to walk through the snow one night a mile or more to retrieve my car when I had to take a later bus back from the City.) And just like all those commuters who might have stopped in to buy something on their way home, I buy nothing there.

ML/NJ

[Ace of Spades]

Find a community center if you want to sit at a table all day and play chess inside.

And I bet you'd be opposed to building one with taxpayer money.

[Hatteras]

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel.

[Hatteras]

Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.

[Maceman]

Welcome, troll.

[Publius6961]

Could be worse.
A lot worse.

[flashbunny]

"And I bet you'd be opposed to building one with taxpayer money."

I would be. Wouldn't you, or are you not a conservative?

There are plenty of community centers that are - get this - built by private organziations for citizens to use.

Love it when the liberals wring their hands on free republic.

[flashbunny]

"The mall is renting space to people who hope to sell things. My guess is that at least some of the chessplayers occasionally need something that is for sale at that mall or elsewhere. Chasing them elsewhere is foolish."

And sadly, you too are living in a dream land.

I guess in your vision, it would be ok for the chess players to set up some tables in the middle of a home depot store, because some day they'd eventually buy something.

Sheesh.