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Santa Claus Jerome, a shopping mall Kris Kringle, waits for children at Century III Mall Thursday.
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Inside the high-stakes mall Santa operation at Century III

Julian Routh / Post-Gazette

Inside the high-stakes mall Santa operation at Century III

A viral photo has angered Santa Claus and his helpers.

So here they were Thursday, on the first floor of Century III Mall in West Mifflin, eager to set the record straight — and eager to tell the world that they’re doing just fine operating their Santa photo booth in the desolate-looking shopping center.

It had only been a few days since an overhead photo of their operation spread rapidly on the internet in Pittsburgh. The photo — posted first on Century III Mall Memories, an independent Facebook page documenting the mall’s history — purported to show the Santa booth on Black Friday, surrounded by empty space in an empty mall.

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“Just heartbreaking,” the caption read. “Santa earlier today on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. There were no lines to be seen. No children laughing or smiling. Not a single person in sight. Behind him, many empty storefronts are visible.”

I went to investigate reports of premature retail Christmas music. Then the mall cops showed up.
Julian Routh
I went to investigate reports of premature retail Christmas music. Then the mall cops showed up.

But according to Santa’s crew, the photo is highly misleading — not even taken on Black Friday — and has caused more trouble than it was worth. The Post-Gazette spent time with Santa and his helpers on a weekday afternoon, getting a behind-the-scenes look at a once-a-year business that is both highly visible and necessarily secretive about the magic that lets Santa be in many places at once. 

Tensions had been high inside Santa’s operation since the photo took off; it was shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook, and the post was flooded with negative comments about the mall looking like a ghost town and jabs at Santa’s business acumen. As a result, Santa’s crew has had to remain in close touch with mall security, reporting several run-ins with shoppers taking photos of the booth — perhaps to re-create the viral image — without the crew’s consent.

To location manager Beverly Philipp, one of Santa’s helpers, the original photo doesn’t accurately portray reality. For one, she said the booth had more than 200 customers on Black Friday, and that it was busy all day.

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Her comments underscore a problem that the mall has been facing over the past decade. Century III — once one of the region’s most popular shopping centers — was sold in 2013 to a Las Vegas-based company after losing a number of retailers, and has been an easy target for criticism for years. Without much foot traffic, it can be simple to snap a photo making the mall look completely abandoned, which aggravates the people who still work there.

This includes Ms. Philipp, who pointed to a discrepancy in her rotating cast of Santas to prove the viral photo wasn’t taken on Black Friday.

“I know who is in my chair, and that was the wrong Santa in the chair,” said Ms. Philipp, 32, of Robinson. “I have three Santas.”

But Scott Senay, who took the original photograph, presented it to the Post-Gazette with its original time stamp: 12:14 p.m. on Friday. He said he went to the mall with his girlfriend “almost as a joke, like an anti-Black Friday adventure.”

“We actually felt horrible for [Santa’s crew],” said Mr. Senay, 42, of McKeesport. “My girlfriend wanted to bring them a candy cane.”

Santa’s booth opened at noon on Black Friday, 14 minutes before the photo was taken. His crew — in interviews before the time stamp was unearthed — said business usually doesn’t pick up on normal days until the late afternoon.

Thursday’s Century III Santa conceded that business at the mall has gotten slower over time, and that it’s always more fun when there are more children — though his compensation isn’t impacted either way. His work is contracted by companies like WorldWide Photography, which rents space in malls to sell pictures to families.

“When they want the real Santa Claus to come, they call me,” he said.

This Santa wasn’t the one in the viral photo, so he hadn’t thought as much about the impact that social media can have on a routine holiday photo apparatus. Leave that to Julie Philipp, Beverly’s mother and the crew’s assistant manager, who has been diligently watching the second floor to catch spies. She said she wants it to stop, and it shouldn’t have to take a wish to Santa Claus.

“I should be able to come in here and relax,” she said. “I feel terrified sometimes.”

Julian Routh: jrouth@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1952, Twitter @julianrouth.

First Published: December 1, 2017, 1:50 p.m.

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Santa Claus Jerome, a shopping mall Kris Kringle, waits for children at Century III Mall Thursday.  (Julian Routh / Post-Gazette)
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Julian Routh / Post-Gazette
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