Shoppers react to rule changes for those under 18 at Mall of Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – On June 25, the Mall of Louisiana announced its implementation of the ‘Parental Guidance Required’ (PGR) program that will go into effect on Friday, June 28.

Mall of Louisiana announces adult supervision policy for guests under 18

WAFB spoke with many shoppers about what this means and heard their thoughts on the new changes.

Meleia and J.B. Nelson say they think this is a great idea that will keep shoppers and employees safe.

“Sometimes the kids get rowdy…you know, especially on Fridays and Saturdays,” Meleia says.

“A lot of them don’t mean any harm, they’re just having fun but sometimes they can get out of hand and they need someone like maybe more security guards that might be around at that time,” J.B. says.

Other shoppers agree. Carmen Richard and Aaliyah Rodruiguez say they saw a group of young men being escorted out by security guards and voices being raised the last time they were at the mall.

“I feel like it is definitely a benefit to the whole mall.” Richard says.

The friends say it may be tough for those almost 18 years old, but they believe it will be beneficial in minimizing the potential of unsupervised incidents.

“Yeah I think it’s sad we have to do it, but hopefully it’ll be better to make it more of a family environment,” Rodruigez says.

WAFB also spoke to one woman who is visiting Baton Rouge from Egypt, Nada Elkaffas. She says in the malls she shops at in Egypt, there are no such rules.

“Coming from a culture that is so strict and conservative, we don’t do this there, so it’s kind of weird, it’s kind of bizarre actually,” Elkaffas said. ” It’s a very critical age, but at the same, time we should trust our kids.”

Mall officials say this rule is a permanent change. Guards will be located at every entrance of the malls and at the entrances to the malls from department stores.

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