Pacific Place to let it snow, hope sales pile up

By Monica Soto Ouchi - Seattle Times Retail Reporter 

Downtown Seattle has its longstanding holiday traditions:
The Bon-Macy's star at Third and Pine. Nordstrom's Santa. The carousel at Westlake Park. The Westlake Center tree. But snow? "It's wishful thinking, that's for sure," Seattle historian Lorraine McConaghy said.

Pacific Place at Sixth Avenue and Pine Street plans to add one holiday tradition Seattle gets little of. It will snow nightly at 6, starting the day after Thanksgiving through Dec. 23. Lifelike snowflakes will fall from the atrium's 60-foot ceiling and dissolve on contact in an illusion developed by Los Angeles-based MagicSnow.

Owner Adam Williams said he first used the trickery in magic show at colleges and on cruise ships. He created artificial snow several years ago for The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles, and other shopping centers followed. This season, MagicSnow will be in nine malls, including Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix and Dolphin Mall in Miami. The show lasts about 15 minutes, or three songs — enough to create the illusion "without overdoing it," Williams said. Each "snow" costs about the same as live music, Pacific Place marketing manager Lynn Beck said, but the illusion is priceless. The show lures customers to the mall at a strategic time — the waning hours of the shopping day. Last year, two shopping centers saw double-digit jumps in sales every time it "snowed." The best spot to see the show will be the bottom of the atrium.
 
"A lot of people ask how it's rigged," Beck said. "We don't divulge all that. It's magic. That's our explanation for everything."

Copyright ©2004 The Seattle Times Company.

Contact: MagicSnow Systems
(310) 289-9852  /  MagicSnow.com