Is it possible to get people to shop at malls and traditional shopping districts in the same trip?

This is relevant to Columbia Heights with the coming of Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc. In "Georgetown's trolley that could?; With retail center coming, city backs idea of shuttling shoppers to its historic square," the Austin American-Statesman reports that:

This November, a San Francisco-style trolley will ferry consumers already laden with purchases from a Georgetown retail complex to another shopping adventure downtown. At least, that's what city officials hope for as they plan a free trolley that will move people the mile-long distance between the new Wolf Ranch shopping complex along Interstate 35 and the historic downtown square.

With its boutiques and restaurants in stone buildings surrounding the historic county courthouse, the square long has been considered the locus of Georgetown's identity. City leaders and business owners hope that identity can be sustained in the face of new retail development west of the interstate. But right now, the trolley idea is long on vision and short on specifics: There's no route, no schedule and no contract. Organizers don't know how many people will ride, or even whether Wolf Ranch shoppers would be willing to abandon their cars to take a short bus trip to downtown Georgetown.

"I'm definitely not saying it's not going to be a challenge to get Texans out of their cars," said Shelly Hargrove, Georgetown Main Street manager and director of the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau. "I'm hoping people will try it just for the novelty and convenience." In July, the City Council approved spending up to $56,000 for the trolley -- half of the service's annual cost. The rest, city officials hope, will come from Simon Property Group Inc., which is developing Wolf Ranch, and other groups, like the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce.

Officials at Simon Property Group said they support the trolley as a connection between two complementary, not competing, shopping districts. "It's never been our desire to pull business away from downtown," said Barbara Barnes, regional property manager for Simon, who added that Simon has agreed in principle to help pay for the trolley.

To that end, Simon erected signs over vacant storefronts in Wolf Ranch that urge shoppers to "Visit Historic Downtown Georgetown." Later this year, a Georgetown visitor's center will open in the mall. Still, no one is sure how successful the tie-in will be. Council Member Farley Snell said when the council approved Wolf Ranch in 2003, he and other council members were concerned that it could have an adverse effect on downtown merchants.

If you offer it will they come?

Photo from the Georgetown Hoya Newspaper.

My sense is that the customer demographics vary significantly between the traditional shopping district in Georgetown, Texas and the coming mall. The shuttle in the "other Georgetown" in DC appears to work, but it's not shuttling people from the equivalent of Tyson's Corner, and it's well connected to transit (connecting to the Dupont Circle, Rosslyn, and Foggy Bottom subway stations).

Marketing is key like this example from Graphic Solutions, which created a nice identity system for a downtown shuttle bus system.

I like the Visitors Center idea at the mall, although it has to be done well. It would be nice for there to be a local DC heritage visitor center in Union Station.