Take a Walk on the Mall Side
At 6 a.m., the doors to Yorktown Center will open. They’d better, Erin Falbo jokes, or someone will hear about it from the mall walkers.
Falbo is marketing and business development manager for the mall in Lombard, a western Chicago suburb. Last year, Yorktown celebrated its 50th anniversary. “And there has been at least an unofficial mall-walkers program probably all fifty years,” Falbo says.
Falbo worked with Humana, the health care colossal, to take mall walking to the next level. This was a chance, she says, to give back to a community where so many neighbors also took root in the mid-20th century and to reward those who faithfully walk the malls. About two years ago, the Heart & Sole Walking Club was born.
There are approximately 700 members, Yorktown marketing coordinator Emily Barack says. Each received a drawstring bag, a water bottle and a pedometer (now a cooling towel). There also are deals with mall stores, which is good for the walkers — and, yes, for business.
‘I Have So Many Friends Here’
Every Thursday, there is a free program for the Heart & Sole members and anyone else who pops in. On a recent morning, the walking group is scheduled for 8:15-9:15 a.m., and scores of people are here, not all group members, walking the…
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