American malls are currently undergoing a facelift – they are now being built to look like pedestrian-friendly city streets. The restoration and renovations of the once popular mall are increasingly being known as Lifestyle Centers. More often than not, Lifestyle Centers include hotels and residences or are a substitute for a community without a “town center”. With the increasing popularity of Lifestyle Centers which are designed around pedestrian-friendly walkways, it is imperative for developers to not only have quality consumer anchor stores, specialty shops and restaurants but also quality landscaping as it is paramount for a successful operation. For instance, seating and sheltered areas provide relief and respite for the shopper or resident. Attractive site furnishings increase the overall appeal of a shopping area and create a desire for the shopper or resident to appreciate the surroundings. Ultimately, the result of these pedestrian-friendly walkways is shoppers and residences that stay longer, are drawn into the overall shopping experience and visit more often. Our landscape elements not only beautify a setting but also provide function. These elements include benches, gazebos/shelters, picnic tables, trash receptacles, tree guards and grates, drinking fountains, security bollards, concrete planters, flag poles and bicycle racks. O’Brien and Sons has had the pleasure to provide many of the above listed items to International Council of Shopping Center members in New England.

Many centers are also including open areas for entertainment. Drawing the public into the open space areas can increase foot traffic to the various shops and restaurants. In order to accommodate the crowds and make people feel insulated from the outside world, it takes greater creativity and resourcefulness to create these open areas and provide better site furnishings in which to surround and make more attractive the open space. No matter what you need for your outdoor environment, O’Brien and Sons is your New England recreation and site furnishing specialist. Providing you with the widest selection of high quality equipment, we represent the world’s finest site furnishing companies. So whether you’re looking for ways to warm up pedestrian walkways or ways to create a park setting throughout a shopping center, give us a call. As the oldest and largest company of its kind, O’Brien and Sons offers the best value, service and selection anywhere. Only Mother Nature can provide you with more elements for a great outdoors.

Crucially important to serving the individual needs of our clients is our custom capability. Collaborating with our manufacturers’ experts and technicians, we have been highly successful in transforming client ideas and designs into practical products and solutions for the challenges of today’s marketplace. We excel in providing products such as radial benches to blend into rounded walkways or circular planting beds. Also popular is implementing shopping center logos into items such as trash receptacles and planters. Branding can be a very important aspect for a shopping center and we can certainly accommodate this feature on most of our products.

With service and support that is second to none, the O’Brien and Sons staff are knowledgeable, professional and passionate about what they do. In business since 1929, we are sure our team will be a great resource for your next project. In addition we are proud to note that our other products include playground equipment and surfacing, water play equipment, athletic equipment, grills, custom signs and skate parks.

We are proud of the O’Brien and Sons mission statement: “The endurance of a company depends on how well it regards its customers. They require value, quality, responsiveness, courtesy and fairness. Our products and service reflect that fact.”

So whether you are connecting your Lifestyle Center to nearby neighborhoods or a bike path or providing residences for retirees, creating a livable outdoor space is paramount to the success of your operation. Not only are there proven economic benefits to open spaces but you will create a place that people will want to come time and again. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.