With COVID-19 concerns still on everyone’s minds, PREIT, owner of the Springfield Mall, is attempting to entice customers to patronize their mall retailers in an innovative way, reports PYMNTS.com.

Taking a cue from services like Loot Crate, PREIT is now allowing customers to have surprise boxes sent to their homes, containing a variety of items from different stores at PREIT’s malls.

Back to school shopping is a big time of the year for malls, with many families needing to buy kids new clothes, computers, and other supplies to be ready for classes.

With many schools prepared to operate virtually for now, it’s unclear how that may impact typical shopping routines. So this new service that PREIT is calling sMALL Surprises offers shoppers a surprise box to give them some of what they may need to get kids prepared for school, and some things shoppers may not have thought of.

By visiting SmallSurprises.Shop customers can take a quiz that will help determine what goes into their box. Some possible items include toys, stickers, accessories, and sanitization needs.

All items included in the box come from a mix of stores at PREIT’s malls, encouraging shoppers to check out the stores online if they enjoy their surprise box.

Speaking on being the first in the mall industry to attempt something like this, Joseph F. Coradino, CEO of PREIT, had the following to say, “This cutting-edge initiative provides surprise and delight to our shopper community during these uncertain times and helps ease the return to a vastly different school year, while also driving sales and awareness to our retailers, highlighting the unique products they offer.”

With the understandable reluctance that some have in physically returning to malls right now, sMALL Surprises is certainly an interesting alternative to try and engage customers in a new way.

Time will tell if the idea is effective, but it does demonstrate PREIT is still examining ways to adapt to a challenging environment.

Read more about sMALL Surprises at PYMNTS.com by clicking here.

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