Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/654213
Guinness World Records has put together events in some 20 countries, mainly across Europe and the Middle East. Roughly two dozen of these over the past six years have taken place at retail venues, and the company is tar- geting this sector for expansion, given the hunger of malls for shopper experi- ences that will drive traffic. Meadowhall Centre, a shopping center in Sheffield, England, put on a GWR Live event as part of its 25th-anniversary celebration last September. The one-day event fea- tured three challenges: the fastest stack- ing of giant Lego blocks, the highest number of hand claps in a 30-second time frame, and the largest number of inCE 1955, The Guinness Book of Records (as it was then titled) has been recording the fastest, the smallest, the shortest, the tallest — indeed, the overall best-est or most- est across just about any and every conceivable category of human en- deavor. These days London-based Guinness World Records, compiler and publisher of the now eponymously retitled publication, is taking its record-breaking show on the road to shopping centers worldwide, with GWR Live — a competitive-events concept the company introduced in 2010. T-shirts that a team of two could put on and take off in 30 seconds. Among the objectives was to encour- age shopper participation by means of a bit of theater, and that is exactly what GWR Live delivered, according to Dar- ren Pearce, director of Meadowhall Cen- tre. One of the competitors in the T-shirt contest broke the world record and got featured in the local and regional media as well as across the social media. "We received excellent feedback from custom- ers and retailers alike," said Pearce. Middle East retail venues that have held GWR Live events include the Ma- rina Mall, in Kuwait, and the Dubai Mall. There is surely plenty of room to expand the concept in the United Arab Emirates, because there is such rigor- ous competition among the big malls in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, says Paul S Biggest, smallest, fastest malls are popular venues for 'Guinness World records' events By Beth Mattson-Teig r e t a i l i n g t o d a y 22 S C t / a p r i l 2 0 1 6