Conservative kiosk not allowed at mall
06:15 PM EDT on Wednesday, July 22, 2009
By BETH SHAYNE / NewsChannel 36
E-mail Beth: BShayne@WCNC.com
CONCORD, N.C. — “Impeach Obama.”
“Al Qaeda’s favorite days: 9/11/01 and 11/04/08.”
“Work Harder. Obama needs the money.”
The bumper stickers and posters sold at “Free Market Warrior” at Concord Mills are meant to be “biting,” the kiosk’s owner Loren Spivack said.
At least one passerby found them racist and bigoted, and took time to tell the mall in a letter and a letter to the editor of the Charlotte Observer.
Whatever your opinion, the fact is this: At the end of July, Free Market Warrior will not be allowed at Concord Mills Mall. The kiosk chain’s owner shared e-mail correspondence with NewsChannel 36 that explains that the mall management has decided that the items sold are not “neutral” enough. The lease will be allowed to expire July 31, 2009 without an option to renew.
Spivack, who first leased the space this spring, says the decision came as a shock to him. He says mall management seemed pleased with the kiosk just a few weeks ago.
“Nobody in that mall is selling anything from a conservative perspective. Plenty of people are selling things with a liberal perspective, with a pro-Obama perspective,” he said. “Given that we are in America and not North Korea, we probably should have some stuff on the other side.”
Spivack says he is careful not to sell things that personally attack a politician and wants a fair exchange of ideas. “The material that I sell is about politics and ideas,” he told Newschannel 36. “It’s all legitimate criticism.”
Concord Mills, owned by Simon Property Group, would not comment for this story, cited a policy against talking about tenant and landlord situations.
Spivack says the company first contacted him about his lease after a letter to the editor appeared in the Charlotte Observer. The author, recent UNC-Charlotte graduate Jennifer Ibanez, wrote”
“Free Market Warrior, a kiosk located adjacent to Bass Pro Shops, specializes in memorabilia embellished with pro-confederacy statements as well as those opposing both the government and President Obama. In addition, these products support ideas such as racisms, sexism, and even slavery. While freedom of speech is a Constitutional right it’s difficult not to believe that something just isn’t quite right here.
“I find it appalling that Concord Mills, North Carolina’s #1 visitor attraction, would condone such a message to be portrayed by their vendors and can’t imagine how the outside visitors’ perceptions of North Carolinians have been skewed by such an establishment.
“It’s hard to stay open-minded when such uncivilized and outdated ideas are endorsed on a daily basis. It’s 2009; please, let’s at least try to put this type of bigotry to an end.”
Ibanez told NewsChannel 36 she was so offended, she wrote the mall as well. She says a friend of hers also wrote in. Both threatened not to return to Concord Mills.
The owner of the mall group, Mel Simon, has been a generous contributor to Democratic causes and politicians, including Barack Obama. Spivack thinks the decision about his lease is political.
“If they have decided to make their malls conservative/libertarian free zones, where those opinions can’t be expressed, I do think it’s their right to do that, but it’s our rights to publicize the fact that they are doing that,” he said.
If the issue is about causing offense, he told us, the mall should police other stores. Spivack sent NewsChannel 36 pictures of several T-shirts and banners from novelty stores at the mall that were so crude we’ve chosen not to share them.
“What I think the mall should have done if they thought that we were expressing one set of ideas and not another, is that they should have gotten another store to come in and sell their ideas,” he said. “I would’ve been all in favor of that. I would have helped them move in.”
NewsChannel 36 has been swamped with e-mails and comments on this story. A spokesperson for the mall did not return a call Thursday about the e-mails, which were hand-carried to the office by reporter Rad Berky. A receptionist unlocked a door and took the e-mails but we don’t know if anyone read them.
I am at the point where I say SPLIT THE COUNTRY….. Left on one side right on the other and they do their thing we do ours… That way if Americans want to live off the Government, then the lefties can finance their government care…. And the rest of us can work for what we get and loan our left-overs to the left@ a rate slightly less then China will….. There are plenty Americans black white brown and yellow that do not like what this congress is doing… This is not a color thing this is a Freedom thing…. I will move just tell me where and let me know……
I got an even better idea! How about if the liberals and their victims move to any other country in the world. That way they can be neighbors with the terrorists (I’m sorry…perpetrators of man made disasters) or live off the government. That is why Europe has so many “siestas”…they make the same whether they work or not.
The libs know it’s not a “race” thing. That’s the only argument that they find shuts some people up. Not me.
The stuff they were selling is NOT RACIST. This is purely a move by a private business man who doesn’t share the same political views as his tenants. Fine, but we can choose to boycott this business owner.
Make sure you contact Simon Property Group (owner of the mall) and tell them you will not shop at any of their malls because they obviously don’t believe in free speech and the free market principles.
http://www.simon.com/
Simon Property Group are the lefty thugs that caused the Atlanta Tea Party scheduled for the 4th of July to be canceled at the last possible minute.
I am boycotting every retailer that leases from them, and there are a bunch of ‘em around.
-Dave
Dave,
I emailed them yesterday, so it should be interesting to see how they respond.
Gio-
I responded as well and this is what I wrote:
As a resident of North Carolina I am appalled at the blatant discrimination perpetrated against Free Market Warrior at Concord Mills Mall. In case you missed it, there is a document in Washington DC that speaks of freedom of speech, that document happens to be the Constitution and Bill of Rights, you might want to check it out, you might actually learn something. Until then, I will not patronize any of your properties and will encourage all of my friends and family nationwide to do the same.
freemarketwarrior will be on Glenn Beck today..be sure to watch!!
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