The Pickering Town Centre marketing team has built a Style Lounge with mall retailers to offer up a back-to-school fashion experience for tween and teen shoppers.

As part of the mall’s Find Your Style, Flaunt Your Style campaign, a ‘style crew’ is helping young shoppers perfect their looks while incorporating in-mall brands such as Costa Blanca, Sears, Roots, West 49 and Boathouse.

‘We try to make it a place for teens to go to relax and figure out before school starts how they want to present themselves,’ Lorna Murphy, marketing director, Pickering Town Centre, tells MiC, noting that a recent Visa Canada survey found the average parent plans to spend more than $600 during the back-to-school blitz.

Reps from Latitudes Salon and Faces Cosmetics are helping shoppers hone their hair and makeup in the Style Lounge, which is parent-free and home to TVs, Xboxes and magazines. Murphy is expecting 500 to 600 shoppers to visit the Style Lounge each weekend day until school is back in session.

Once happy with their looks, participants are photographed showing off their new styles, and the pictures are being posted to the Pickering Town Centre’s Facebook page and microsite.

‘What we’ve been finding is that teens look to TV and magazines, but they also look to each other for inspiration,’ says Murphy. ‘Instead of us trying to tell them how to dress, we’re working with them to tell each other, ‘this is how I like to dress and express myself.”

The Style Lounge will remain open weekdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., until Sept. 5.