RETAIL : Easter Bunny Drums Up Some Business, but Santa Is Still Merchandising King

It’s the time of year when the Easter Bunny hops into local shopping malls for photo opportunities with young believers. He also draws a fair number of moms, dads and other potential shoppers.

Yet, despite his fame, the bunny can’t match the drawing power of the bearded man in the red suit. Last year, the bunny drummed up just 20% of the business that Santa Claus generated, said Stephanie D. Greene, marketing director for the Mall of Orange. And at Laguna Hills Mall, the bunny usually draws a fourth of what Santa does, Marketing Director Arlene Eisenstadt-Kaye said.

Those aren’t bad numbers, however, for a furry creature who is on the scene for only three weeks--less than half the time that Santa spends at the mall during the Christmas shopping season.

Mall managers don’t expect the Easter Bunny to fill their retail centers with hard-charging shoppers. “It’s not a real moneymaker,” Eisenstadt-Kaye said. “From that standpoint, it’s kind of a wash. It is something that says ‘Spring is here,’ and it does attract kids and their parents.”

The local bunnies have been around for a long time. A Mall of Orange maintenance man remembers setting up the rabbit hutch for at least the past 18 years. And Laguna Hills’ bunny has appeared “probably since we opened in the 1970s,” Eisenstadt-Kaye said.