Market Santa Charging Up to $50 for Visits

‘You can’t even see Santa’.

However, we’d like to think there was a few belated “Bah, Humbug!” compassion for the two-job single parent who promised the kids a Santa visit before rushing off to Cherry Hill Mall without reading the fine print. Imagine needing to tell a child that Santa is sleeping, when the real reason for a canceled visit is that seeing him cost more than the child’s Christmas gifts.

The elaborate display in Cherry Hill Mall features four digital panels for walls, but no windows to the outside of the exhibit.

“Families who experienced this exciting amenity previous year commented that it was nothing like any Santa visit they had ever had before, and parents were thrilled with not just the adventure but the quality of the photos as well”, PREIT said in a statement. I get that shopping malls have to make money, but having a Santa attraction usually brings shoppers into the mall to spend money during the holiday season to begin with, so it’s not like the owners of the mall won’t make money without charging.

The North Pole Adventure is also at the center of the Ridge Hill mall in Yonkers.

Malls in the Chicago area, the story notes, typically allow free visits with Santa, but charge fees for photos and ban parents from taking their own snaps – a policy similar to that of a few malls and stores in the NY City, including the Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn.

“I probably would have paid that much for pictures this year”, Sulaiha Bitar, a Voorhees mother of three, said before PREIT switched course.

Malls have always charged for photos with Santa, but this one is cutting off the line to anyone who doesn’t plan on buying one.

But it was free a year ago.

The $35 and $50 packages included photos or videos, respectively, of the experience.

Despite the cost, there were plenty of children and parents going into Santa’s house Sunday.