. . . companies that shop places you would find in a typical mall.


Before the "come on Nina you know better" calls come out, let me explain:


Tomorrow, I'm moving, and I won't have a car for awhile. My best bet to continue making decent money is to build a route at the Galleria or Memorial City Mall, take a bus up, and do a "mall day," then walk or bus to Starbucks to fill in my reports. With luck, this will help me save up to get a car, so I can get back to my normal, well-bonused shops (and supplement my day job, which is $8.25 an hour). As of right now, with the companies I've got, I can pick up a few Chanels and two food court assignments--not good.


So what I am looking for specifically would be places that shop stores like Claire's, Macy's, BAREMinerals, Gucci, Abercrombie, stuff you'd find in a food court, etc. (you guys know what's typically in a mall, I don't need to elaborate too far on this). I'm not looking for stuff like "Oh, MarketForce shops Charming Charlie," more like . . . "AmazingShopCompany does some places that have mall locations." In the long term I want a big long list of companies and I am working on signing up at least one or two a week, but in the short term it's super-important that I build this income stream (my student loans come due in July, too). There are a few thousand stores in the Galleria (seventh-largest mall in the US) and at least a few hundred, if not over a thousand, in Memorial City (tenth-largest), so for right now this is really my best bet.


Anybody willing to help me?

Since you are only asking for clients in the Mall (and have not mentioned the MSC):

Verizon
Yankee Candle
Rack Room Shoes
Champs
Spencer's
Sunglass Hut
Radio Shack

I always see these...in most malls...

Sunny,

I actually meant the other way around--I'm looking for the companies that shop places like these, without looking for specific clients (I'll shop anyone, I'm an actor and I can fake an interest in *anything*). My focus right now is laser because I need to go from "three shops is a route!" to "can I structure this to make $150 in a day?" because I'm going to need that $150. If I can do $100 in a day I can pay my electric and phone for a month, which is a huge burden off me.


I wish the Apple Store shops hadn't either gone away or gone to a new client. Those were fun.

I live in your area and used to actively try to set up a similar route. I think the most I was able to get were 3 or 4 at the Galleria. Start with valet shopping then high end chocolate then shoes and maybe the mall kiosk. You can pick up a fast food meal and maybe a smoothie for dessert.

Hi, Beatlesfan!


With the companies I'm signed up with I can do a whole slew of Chanel/competitor shops in one day, plus a couple of others through Beyond Hello (I'm a big woman, though--so I can't do any of their shops that require smaller sizes, which seems to be a lot of them). No car so can't do valet, but I do pick up a Raising Cane's downstairs. The problem I face is that I can't do Chanel too often (rotation is short but if you're there often enough . . . ), so I need to fill that roster out with some more varied shops.

I generally try to avoid the mall because the shops are cheap since evidently the MSPs think we all would just loooove to spend hours in the mall for nothing.

But I have done mall shops for Shop Angels, Sinclair, Market Force and others. My suggestion is that you go through the companies you are registered with when you know what stores are in the malls (the mall's website may show these) and see what you find. As for $100 in a day, I doubt that is feasible. Most mall shops I have done have either been high reimbursement and low pay, just plain old low pay or purchase and return another day for low pay.

Flash,

Thanks for the recs! I'll sign up with those tonight. (Well, except MarketForce. I'm pretty sure everyone on this forum either is or at some point has been signed up with MarketForce, and that includes me.)

I'm basing my $100/day on a $10-15 shop I know I have available to me that's usually assigned to me in multiples (e.g. "four shops at $15 each". As for stores in the Galleria . . . dude. Let me put it this way: when I was looking for a new job, I spent eight hours walking the Galleria. I got lost. I've lived here 15 months, go to the mall *at least* once a month, and suddenly I was looking down a hallway going " . . . . where the hell is this? I've never seen this before." I must have been looking at easily 40 storefronts I'd never seen . . . . *and I couldn't see to the end of the hallway.* And it was three stories tall. (and I never actually got down there to put in any applications. That eight hours only covered one small section of the mall.) I'm pretty sure "if it exists, it's in the Galleria" is a safe rule of thumb, although--as shown--I've weirdly only ever had shops in that one small section of it. The Galleria covers something like three city blocks and it's so big it contains not one, but two Macy's. I can safely say I have only the tiniest idea what's in there.

My biggest problem with a day at the mall is as much timing as anything else. One MSC needs shops these days another those days.

Research Services Group sometimes has mall shops but they are the credit card ones not for a specific store. Service Excellence, Reality Based, ICCDS, Sinclair and Feedback Plus, now Sentry. Mystery Guest has a big restaurant chain if you don't mind spending the money and being reimbursed via gift card for the same place. Don't forget cell phone shops. Back in the day I was able to get at least one client and one competitor. Lately they seem to be spread out too much.

And if anyone ever finds Bare Escentuals is shopped, please let me know.

Thanks for the recs, Lisa! *adds to list* I didn't know Feedback Plus did such shops. I'll have to check their job board.

Apartment Shops???? I will PM you

With the exception of ICCDS and Service Excellence I only know of one client each for the others. Depending on the mall, ICCDS could have anywhere from 2 to 5 or more. They are also easy to work with so if you don't mind P/R, they may be more inclined to extend due dates for you.

Definitely download a map of the mall if it is available on the internet to help you plan what you can do. Generally when I have done shops at the malls here they started at $5-$12 but got bonused before I bothered. Then it was time to look for something else I could pick up while I was there. Our malls are obviously not as large as the one you are talking about but it still is a hike from one location to another.

Marketforce does have some shops in mall stores. But you probably already know that.

ICCDS has a lot of shops for merchants you would find in malls. I also shopped an entire mall (the client was a popular mall chain) years ago - marking on a map where kiosks were, which storefronts were empty, etc. It was fun and paid well. I'll try to remember who I worked for then.

ICU has mall clients

I second the cell phone shops with GFK or Maritz. Also maybe try Reality Check.

Have you looked at Jobslinger? That should give you a good start as well.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2014 02:11AM by bedenji.

There's also a MSC that shops malls themselves. Since you've named the malls in your area, I can't name the MSC.

CORI/Steri ?

I did a Bare Essentials shop loved it want another one too!

I think I signed with them, Bond. They were offering something like $15 to shop the entire Galleria. NO THANK YOU, that is literally a six-hour walk if you don't stop anywhere.


A sad update: I got to my intended new apartment and discovered they're crooks of the bait and switch kind. Because I am out of time and money my sister got me a train ticket back to Phoenix to stay with my mom for a short time. This is where my shop-mama lives as well, so I will use the info you guys have shared to shop Fashion Square and like places in order to save faster and come back to Houston, which has become my home.

Good luck and take care traveling.

The sagas we MS'ers have in our lives! I am glad that you had a backup plan, Nina.

I am also interested in building a regular route between my two malls and an outlet mall. I actually have 11 shops scheduled at one of my malls on Saturday. If you wish, we can kind of team up and work together to establish lists of MSCs that shop each others malls. My malls are no where near as large as yours, but would be willing to help out where I can.

Don't forget banks inside the mall or on the parking lot.

Were National Shopping Service, BMA, Maritz mentioned?

I do mall routes a couple of times a year. A profitable day takes lots of time and energy to put together. $100/day in fees in addition to reimbursements are possible if the stars align.

I'm already with NSS and Maritz, Mert, but BMA is new! Thanks!

Nina...
I think you might be going about this the wrong way. I cannot see it even conceivable to make 150.00 a day, more than once in a long while. This is money you cannot count on. Since you will be at the mall anyway, why don't you consider picking up a 2nd "real" job then, filling in whenever you can? Reading your posts, sounds like you are setting yourself up for too much stress and a goal that is not attainable.