Virtual Monster Hunters Big Game for Businesses

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Millions of people have been hunting for elusive creatures on their phones after the launch of the popular Pokémon Go mobile app earlier this month.

Now businesses and institutions around Los Angeles are hunting for customers in an attempt to capitalize on the waves of people flooding the streets to play the game, which involves scouring neighborhoods for virtual characters.

Citadel Outlets, a 700,000-square-foot outdoor mall in Commerce, is trying to capture the burgeoning Pokémon market by welcoming players to catch digital creatures at one of the center’s 19 Pokéstops, places within the game where players can obtain Pokémon eggs as well as items used to capture and manage wild Pokémon. Citadel’s pair of three-story tall LED signs near the 5 freeway urge players to stop by and visit the retail complex and its 130 stores.

“What we really like about the game is that it gets people moving around the center,” said Chelsea Hartnett, public relations manager for Citadel, who said thousands of players have visited since Nintendo Co. launched the game on July 5. “We’re engaging on social media as well; we post pictures of Pokémon that we’re seeing, talking with people that we see playing around the center.”

Hartnett said Citadel also plans to sponsor special “lure days” in which it will pay for in-app products that attract Pokémon to specific areas. Naturally, these lures would be situated directly outside of Citadel’s real-world shops.

Broad appeal

Shopping centers are not the only ones getting in on the action. Historical sites such as the USS Iowa Museum at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro have embraced their Pokéstop designation. The battleship museum offers players discounted tickets to climb aboard and encourages game play on the vessel. (Not everyone is embracing the additional traffic. Representatives of other national landmarks, such as Arlington National Cemetery and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, have urged people not to play the game on their grounds.)

“Hopefully, we can reach a market that may be precluding itself from coming out to the ship right now,” said USS Iowa spokesman Andrew Bossenmeyer. “If people come out to play Pokémon Go and see something that piques an interest in history, our military, or the mechanics of a battleship then that’s a win-win.”

The Santa Monica Pier features one of the largest concentrations of Pokémon Go activity in Los Angeles. Thousands of players flock to the seaside nightly, according to Nathan Smithson, marketing and sales manager for Pacific Park, which sits at the end of the pier.

The amusement park has stocked its midway game booths with plush Pokémon figurines and even lit its Ferris wheel lights in the likeness of a Poké ball (a virtual object used to catch monsters in the game) as a way to take part in the craze. However, the park hasn’t offered any special deals to attract players because the massive crowds have already shown up.

“It’s definitely made a positive impact on our business at Pacific Park,” said Smithson.

The half-dozen restaurants owned by the park have reported significant lifts in sales, he added, particularly later in the evening when many players (known as trainers) hit the pier.

“Nothing quite fuels the Pokémon trainer like a delicious funnel cake, let me tell you,” he said.

However, some restaurant operators outside the park said the influx of players hasn’t boosted their day-to-day business.

“We have seen an increase in the number of people coming to the pier, but this being the summer season, increased traffic is nothing out of the ordinary,” said Mouhcin Dinouri, a manager at seafood restaurant Albright.

Smithson insisted that an increase in late-night foot traffic is undeniable.

“I would challenge others that work out here to say that on a Tuesday last summer at 10 p.m. it was shoulder-to-shoulder traffic on the pier.”

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