Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Staten Island Mall Brings Back Holiday Parade After Outcry from Shoppers

By Nicholas Rizzi | November 24, 2015 2:48pm
 The Staten Island Mall will bring back their annual holiday celebration and tree lighting ceremony after more than 22,000 shoppers vowed online to boycott the shopping center.
The Staten Island Mall will bring back their annual holiday celebration and tree lighting ceremony after more than 22,000 shoppers vowed online to boycott the shopping center.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

NEW SPRINGVILLE — The Staten Island Mall will bring back its annual holiday parade after plans to scrap it sparked outcry from shoppers and prompted more than than 22,000 to threaten to boycott the shopping center.

"We heard the disappointment in your shopper feedback regarding the cancellation of the annual Santa Parade," a spokesman for the mall said in a statement, a week after quietly announcing that its annual tree lighting ceremony and holiday parade had been cancelled.

"At Staten Island Mall, we pride ourselves on being a community partner and take our shoppers’ sentiments to heart — good and bad."

The mall will host the holiday celebration — with a visit from Santa, a tree lighting ceremony and a food and toy drive — on Dec. 4 and plans to bring back the Santa parade next year, the spokesman said.

The decision to cancel the parade drew ire from shoppers online, with more than 22,000 people joining the "BOYCOTT STATEN ISLAND MALL THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON" Facebook page, NY1 first reported.

"I started this boycott page to unite the voices of people who don't like our Christmas tradition taken away from us piece by piece at the Staten Island Mall," wrote Joe DeMarco, who started the page.

"It became apparent to me and so many others that the mall [management] was systematically removing anything "Christmas" from the mall, but still wanted the believer of Christmas, the people who loved the tradition[,] to still shop there for their Christmas gifts.

"This was hypocritical at the least, and contemptible at the most."

Last year, six weeks before Christmas, the mall moved its annual tree lighting ceremony from indoors to outside and added a holiday parade with Santa, Spider-Man, and an Elvis impersonator.

Despite initially canceling this year's ceremony, the mall still installed a giant Christmas tree outside.