Just before 9 a.m., the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafted through a wide corridor at Arundel Mills. Workers swept up the previous night's litter, and Beverly Franks joined a group of seniors and young mothers power-walking the 1 1/4-mile loop inside Maryland's largest shopping mall.
Along their path, behind a thin orange-and-blue plywood wall, the whir of a power saw and the crack of a hammer sent out an unmistakable message, one echoed by the bulldozers chewing lots into dirt outside: The work here is not done.
One year and 14 million visitors after this behemoth mall opened with great fanfare, the corporate shopping gurus who have erected 12 Mills centers around the nation are continuing to build in Anne Arundel County.
Their latest blueprints show offices, hotels, big box stores, gas stations, restaurants, apartment complexes and a community college campus, all within steps of Arundel Mills's existing 1.3 million square feet of retail space.
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"We're right where we want to be," said Gene Condon, the general manager of Arundel Mills, surveying the plans. "And it's only going to get better."
What is underway, Condon says, is nothing less than the creation of a small city -- a vibrant shopping mecca rising from behind acres of woods and bumping up against the miles of industrial complexes that surround Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
The planned expansion of Arundel Mills, coming while the mall is still in its infancy, is an especially bold operation, given the current economic climate. Like every retail outlet, Arundel Mills depends on the kind of consumer confidence that encourages weekend shopping binges. But more than that, Mills malls market themselves as travel destinations. Shoppers from 60 nations have visited the Anne Arundel complex this past year. The mall has even arranged package deals with Icelandic and British airlines that, in a couple of instances, have shuttled European bargain hunters into BWI just to visit Arundel Mills.
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By most measures, though, this is not the time to be counting on shopping junkets. In the wake of Sept. 11, consumer confidence is way down. So is airline travel.
While the long-term damage of the terrorist attacks remains somewhat uncertain, Maryland officials have conceded that the signs of economic trouble, already obvious in other parts of the country, are appearing on the horizon here.
But if Condon, the self-proclaimed "mayor of the Mills," shrugs off the recession fears, it's probably because there is a strategy behind Mills Corp.'s unceasing growth.
Over the past year, visitors could experience Arundel Mills in vastly different ways, depending on the day of their visit. On weekdays, the expansive mall generally feels empty, with just a handful of shoppers in sight, most towing children through the aisles. But on weekends, the mall is crammed. Even distant parking spaces can be tough to come by.
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This feast-or-famine phenomenon, common to most shopping malls, explains the desire to bring a range of developments to the acreage just outside the mall's front doorstep.
"Much of the new development is geared toward increasing weekday activity," Condon said. By building a bustling corridor of offices, apartments and hotels next to the mall, Mills can counter the drop in business while the weekend junketeers are away.
Take, for example, the five-story Hampton Inn & Suites and the four-story Residence Inn by Marriott, both under construction and expected to open by the end of next year.
While the mall will benefit by having a new source of visitors for its restaurants, shops and theaters, Bill Bello, vice president of the Baltimore-based developer Skye Hospitality Inc., said the two hotels will capitalize on their proximity to the mall.
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"We'll have this amenity, which will make our hotels a preferred place to spend the night, even if the guests are just there on business," he said.
At the same time, a Costco and a Wal-Mart are under construction on the mall's perimeter, with Mills hoping to draw neighborhood shoppers to the area for everyday errands and then lure them into the mall.
The mall's focus remains on creating a well-rounded environment that provides something for everyone -- a mix that already includes Jillian's, an entertainment venue popular with families and young adults, and the Bass Pro shop, a huge draw for men. In the coming year, the mall is likely to add an ESPN skate park aimed at teenagers.
Beverly Franks, though, isn't too excited about such new restaurants as the DuClaw Brewing Company, which lets you scan table-side computer screens for menu items and movie tickets. What she wants at Arundel Mills is a drugstore. Franks, who lives in nearby Severn and is one of hundreds who have signed up to walk at the mall each morning, treats Arundel Mills like her neighborhood shopping center.
"I would bet that, at some point, we'll have that, too," Condon told Franks one recent morning.
No doubt, he's right.
Carrie Cross, from far left, Terry Joneson and Katie McDaniel stop to smell the candles at Arundel Mills. Laura Kaufman, 9, and brother Joshua, 12, play a video game in between shopping.
