A match made in mall heaven?
| Tuesday, Jan 05 2010 06:18 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jan 05 2010 07:55 PM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Chaplain L. Wayne Quinn will open a non-denominational church at East Hills Mall. East Hills Mall Bible Chapel will have its first service Sunday from 10-11:30 a.m. It is located near the mall entrance of the old Gottschalks store.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Anne Lynch, director of business development at East Hills Mall, and Chaplain L. Wayne Quinn take a look of the space in the mall where Quinn will open a non-denomination church. East Hills Mall Bible Chapel will have its first service Sunday.
East Hills Mall is getting a spiritual lift.
On Sunday, a new church -- East Hills Mall Bible Chapel -- is set to host its first service inside a former music store near the now-closed Gottschalks space at the beleaguered mall's east end.
The man who intends to lead the nondenominational congregation, the Rev. L. Wayne Quinn, said he proposed establishing the church at East Hills during a chance encounter last year with the mall's Los Angeles-area owner, Nick Danesh.
"We're going to help ... change the atmosphere of the mall," Quinn said.
Mall management loves the idea.
"It's fantastic. We love it," mall business development director Anne Lynch said. "You know, because we want the community of Bakersfield to know that we're still here and we're welcoming ... nonprofits into the mall."
More and more churches are setting up in shopping centers around the country, especially now that the recession has forced other mall tenants out of business, said Erin Hershkowitz, spokeswoman for the New York-based International Council of Shopping Centers. She said the trend benefits malls and churchgoers alike.
"People tend to maybe want to do some shopping after church on Sunday, so why not?" she said. "They're already in a mall, so hopefully that would spur some traffic."
Bakersfield psychologist Dean Haddock, who plans to deliver Sunday's invocation, called the church opening a "win-win." It's nicely located next to restaurants for after-church meals, he said, and it's in an area relatively underserved by places of worship.
"I think (the church) is going to do very well. There's a big need in that part of town," he said.
East Hills could use the attention. Danesh's company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in November, following a rough year that saw the closure of its two biggest tenants, Mervyns and Gottschalks. The mall was recently listed for sale.
Quinn said he has spent the last 14 years in semi-retirement in Bakersfield, having worked with the Church of the Nazarene to oversee churches in three states. He said he also was in charge of building new churches in inner-city Chicago in the 1980s.
Sunday's service is scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m., following 15 minutes of casual fellowship, and conclude at 11:30 a.m. East Hills Mall is located at 3000 Mall View Road.
