Late night "shopping"

I went shopping last night. As per normal, the shopping center (and car park) was packed out. At first it would seem reasonable to suggest that the shopping center needs wider walkways, or a bigger carpark. Upon further inspection, however, it is obvious that neither solution will remedy the real problem: the majority of people overcrowding the centre are not actually doing any shopping. For these teenagers, the shopping center is a "cool place to be", a "hang out" of sorts. I propose a solution to the problem: A late night shopping permit.

Such a permit would be obtained each Thursday and would allow the shopper to access the center. It needn't be especially hard to obtain a permit; simply describe the category of shopping you will be doing, (e.g. groceries, home appliances, entertainment) in either an online form or over the phone and you will be notified later as to whether your application was successful.

Obviously, this system is not foolproof; teenagers will inevitably attempt to overcrowd the shopping centre, (such is the nature of the teenager). This may be addressed by spot-audits in the carpark. Random shoppers (with a bias toward teenagers) will be approached by security guards and asked to present their permit. If the shopper has selected 'groceries' as their shopping category but have not actually purchased any groceries, they will be barred from late night shopping at that center for a predetermined amount of time.

It is unlikely that this solution will cause any public backlash. Teenagers simply do not need to shop on Thursday night. They have 2 hours after school every other day of the week. Let me assure you, it doesn't take that long to buy a CD or DVD.