Seven malls in North Texas owned by Simon Property Group are reducing hours starting Tuesday in the wake of the new coronavirus.
A bright pink banner on the shopping centers' websites directed customers to take note of temporary hours. A message from mall management told shoppers in order to support retailers, employees and community, "and in accordance with the latest CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19, we have temporarily modified our operating hours to 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. (Sunday), effective Tuesday, March 17."
Simon Property Group owns Allen Premium Outlets, Firewheel Town Center in Garland, Grapevine Mills, Grand Prairie Premium Outlets, North East Mall in Hurst, The Shops at Clearfork and University Park Village, both in Fort Worth.
At North East Mall in Hurst, signs posted to the doors of stores alerted customers of the changes. In some cases, the posted hours match the reduced hours for the mall. In others, the hours differ slightly.
At Nordstrom, customers see a "We're Temporarily Closed" sign. And late Tuesday, Macy's also announced it was temporarily closing its stores.
NBC 5's Katy Blakely noticed stores at Northpark Center in Dallas were also making changes for the health and safety of customers.
Inside North East Mall, workers were closing off the dining area in the food court and taking chairs to storage.
And at one of the retailers, sales associates expressed concern that reduced hours would mean a reduced paycheck but also said, "Thank God, we're still open."
