The owner of Hamilton Place mall is joining with a company that offers smart store retail analytics and deploying the technology at the Chattanooga shopping center.
“We’re trying to learn more about the customers coming through the shopping centers,” said Brian Lutz, who is director of digital strategies for mall owner CBL & Associates Properties Inc. “We want to provide a better experience for shoppers in Chattanooga.”
Lutz said Chattanooga-based CBL will use a RetailNext Inc. platform that will utilize cameras to count customers who visit the common areas of the mall and enter the various stores and restaurants.
Also, the technology will show the amount of time people spend at locations in the mall, and it will calculate a person’s gender and age along with the day and time of the visit, he said.
Brendon Rembert, 4, walks around Hamilton Place Mall with his father Marco Rembert Monday, July 24, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The two were clothes shopping for Brendon. 
CBL President and CEO Stephen Lebovitz introduces pop-star Tiffany, far right. Also present of the stage, from left are Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, Hamilton Place Marketing Director Kim Lyons (obscured), Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, and CBL Chairman Charles B. Lebovitz. The 30th year anniversary of the opening of Hamilton Place Mall was celebrated on August 4, 2017. But, Lutz said, the cameras will not capture anything that is “publicly identifiable information.” For example, he said, the system won’t know a person’s address, birthday, or “anything that identifies as an individual.”