Universal CityWalk on Solid Ice During Holidays

For the next few weeks, refrigeration technician James Joyner will be living in a trailer a few steps from the Universal CityWalk’s million-dollar outdoor ice rink--making sure it stays frozen.

“It’s my job,” said Joyner, 22, as he opened a gate for a colleague aboard a miniature ice-resurfacing Zamboni.

The festively decked out rink, which is packed with scores of skaters most evenings until 1 a.m., is the centerpiece of CityWalk’s muscular holiday promotional campaign--a procession of singers, dancers, rock musicians, carolers and movie props, all topped with tons of snow and ice and all designed to lure as many shoppers as possible away from nearby regional shopping malls.

“We are an entertainment destination . . . and we’re over-the-top with activities,” said Norm Rich, CityWalk’s senior vice president and general manager. “We are the Rockefeller Center of the West Coast.”

All the bluster is necessary because the San Fernando Valley’s premier entertainment-retail destination faces a cruel fact of consumer spending habits. After Thanksgiving, customers who would otherwise seek out a fun stop like CityWalk tend to levitate toward their regional shopping centers, shopping lists in hand.

“During the Christmas season conventional malls become the destination malls,” said Richard Baum, a New York-based retail analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston. “That’s when consumers tend to be very serious about shopping. They want to go out and do the work, not be entertained. So a mall that thrives on impulse [buying] is obviously going to do less well.”

Much has been made of CityWalk’s status as a magnet for high-end impulse buyers.

Data gleaned from industry analysts--executives of corporate parent, the Seagram Co. Ltd., hold their marketing data close to the vest--indicate that CityWalk is a strong performer in the impulse-shopper driven entertainment-retail segment.

Leading centers in that chichi category--including The Block of Orange and Irvine Spectrum--ring up sales in the range of $400 to $600 per square foot, analysts say. In contrast, the national sales average for regional malls is $197 per square foot, with top-performers in Southern California in the range of $300-plus per square foot, the Washington-based Urban Land Institute said.

Retail-entertainment centers register significantly higher sales because they’re more about excitement and expression than stocking mercantile-segment staples, such as everyday clothing or household appliances.

“Shopping at CityWalk is part of a much bigger attraction, a whole way of looking at life,” said retail analyst Jill Bensley, president of Ojai-based JB Research Co.

Seagram’s 393,000-square-foot Universal City center--its executives rankle if you call CityWalk a mall--features a movie complex, action rides, nightclubs, a bowling alley, a giant arcade, a variety of moderate to upper-end dinner houses and a mix of fairly exotic fast-food stands, serving such treats as fish tacos and Cuban cuisine. Up to two-thirds of its customers, depending on the season, are tourists.

As for shopping opportunities, Bensley notes, “What’s sold there is not what you really need. CityWalk has the weird, funny, silly stuff.”

To bolster non-tourist traffic, entertainment-retail centers spend proportionately more than traditional malls on promotion, especially during the holidays, Bensley said.

Traditional malls this year are enjoying a 31-day shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve--up from 29 last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Malls.

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The trade group, which monitors sales in 4,000 stores at 78 regional malls nationwide, forecasts sales growth of 2.5% to 6.5% this season--down from last year’s 5% to 7.7% forecasts.

But the season started even earlier at CityWalk, which rolled out its first holiday promotion, Grinch Village, the Friday before Thanksgiving. The Dr. Seuss-inspired array of sets and memorabilia in front of Cineplex Odeon coincided with the release of Universal’s movie, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.”

More “Grinch”-related activities go on inside the adjacent Universal Studios Tour theme park, where carolers and other performers are dressed as characters from the movie and guests can wander through more set pieces, including a 100-foot snow slide designed to recapture a key scene from the movie.

“We’re blowing several tons of snow every night,” said Michael Taylor, senior vice president and general manager of Universal Studios Hollywood. “And you can come in and meet Max, the actual dog from the movie.”

Back at CityWalk, a troupe of 12 performers puts on a special holiday show three times a night on weekends--ending with another snowstorm.

Rich said the center is also promoting private holiday parties and has logged increased bookings in venues such as Jillian’s Hi Life Lanes, a small bowling alley, where one of the major Hollywood studios recently spent more than $100,000 for a bash for employees and clients.

The promotional drumbeat has already paid off in increased attendance, said Rich, citing what he described as attendance records over the Thanksgiving weekend. He declined to reveal precise figures but estimated regular heavy crowds at up to 50,000.

The crowd count pleases merchants, such as Dino Vindeni, general manager of Hollywood Harley-Davidson, a clothing and accessory store in CityWalk’s new 100,000-square-foot wing that opened in April.

Vindeni said he can settle back and watch the holiday activity just outside his doors, while he hasn’t had to do much more than hang a few wreaths, like the one on a $20,000 touring motorcycle parked on the sales floor.

“We just ride along with the wave,” Vindeni said. “We’re doing real well, because we’re pretty close to the ice rink.”

The 50- by 80-foot frozen surface by itself is a nearly $1-million project, said Willy Bietak, a two-time Olympic pairs skater from Austria and owner of Willy Bietak Productions Inc. of Santa Monica. He is a longtime producer of ice shows--with five currently in production, including the one now playing at Knott’s Berry Farm. He also has crews operating five portable rinks around the country this season--including one at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.

Business has been brisk on the ice, with admission at $7.50 for adults and $6.50 for children, per one-hour session. Skates rent for $2.50 a pair.

The seasonal rinks, like CityWalk’s, have become a profitable sideline in recent years, Bietak said, thanks to improved refrigeration technology that brings ice even to skaters in the palm latitudes.

“We have better machinery and floors than several years ago, better heat transfer and recovery, even the pipes are more efficient,” Bietak said. There is an unfilled demand for seasonal rinks going unmet because of a shortage of technicians, he said.

Joyner, who lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., works for Bietak crews at projects all around the country. He led a tour through a trailer packed with loudly whirring motors and pumps that keep the ice chilled.

He showed off the equipment that he’s in charge of repairing if it fails in the wee hours. But even during the holidays, he doesn’t look forward to a silent night.

“I listen for the compressor turning on and off,” Joyner said. “When it doesn’t kick on, the quiet wakes me up right away. It’s like an alarm clock.”