A few malls across the country are tired of the so-called big box discounters stealing all the press and getting all the early-morning shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving. General Growth Properties, a well established U.S. mall developer, is promoting an event they call "Rockin' Shopping Eve" that features a handful of malls opening in the dead of night long before Wal Mart even flips on the lights. Some will open as early as 12:01 a.m.

General Growth tested the event last year, opening four malls at 1:00 a.m. The event proved successful enough for it to be duplicated in different markets this year. One of those markets is in Salt Lake City, Utah where General Growth's Fashion Place Mall has vowed to take the event to the next level by opening just after midnight on November 24th. Mall retailers were notified last week that participation in the event is mandatory.

Some Fashion Place retailers are dubious of such an event and are predicting a possible negative public reaction. One local merchant, who asked not to be identified, cited several reasons for not going forward with the event in Utah:

"We already have a history of opening early to no affect on Black Friday," said the merchant, who works for a national fashion retailer. "The mall has us here at 7:00 a.m. every Black Friday and business is slow until mid-afternoon. This is not our day -- it belongs to Wal Mart and Best Buy. People didn't come out at 7;00 a.m. last year to buy shoes, cell phones, books and lingerie at Victoria Secret. They certainly won't show up at 12:01 a.m. this year."

The same merchant also expressed concern about possible public backlash at the event because it could be perceived as "greedy".

"They're making us look bad. We're premium retailers. We're not convenience stores and we're not Wal Mart. We don't run 24-hour operations and we don't make our employees leave their families at all hours of the night to work a holiday sale. The buying public is going to see this as a greedy move and they won't blame the mall -- they'll blame us."

Another retailer, who also requested anonymity, said the event would be putting too much of a strain on the resources of the mall's small retailers.

"The mall is going to be open for 22 hours on November 24th -- in effect, we've got to staff for 24 hours when you take into account just getting the stores opened and closed. This presents a lot of problems for us. To open at 12:01 a.m. we have to have people there a hour or so early. Do we pay them holiday rates because they're actually working at 11:00 p.m. on a holiday? They have to have breaks every couple of hours. That means bringing in a couple of people to cover that. By the time noon rolls around we will have used four people already for the day and we'll still have 10 hours to cover. Nobody gets that day off and a few might have to pull some overtime. That is a lot to ask when the real big weeks of Christmas are still in front of us. We'd opt out of this thing if we could."

Merchants might not have a choice in the matter. Several merchants we talked to at Fashion Place indicated they will participate because the terms of their lease agreements stipluate participation in mall marketing events.

"Oh yeah, I'm working," admitted a manager of a cell phone retailer at Fashion Place. "I've already done the schedules. Nothing you can do but laugh about it. I volunteered to work it because as a manger I don't get commissions. I'll open and babysit the place until the customers show up in the afternoon. Then I'll go home."

"We're kind of excited about it," a food service employee said. "Not because we want to work but because we want to shop. A lot of people will be waiting in line at Wal Mart to get a shot at a nickle computer but we will be here getting a deal on some clothes or something."