Weeks after adopting a pay-to-park program for premium spaces, The Mall in Columbia suspended it.

Signs designating the 120 preferred spots near the main entrance have been taken down. Patrons posted videos on social media over the weekend that showed crews removing the signs near the mall’s restaurant row and Main Event, an arcade entertainment complex.

The program is “only temporarily on pause while we determine the best location for our guests,” said Lindsay Kahn, a spokesperson for mall owner Brookfield Properties, in an email Monday.

The company adopted the paid approach in early August amid consistent customer complaints about parking across its nearly 100 malls, Kahn said at the time.

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The mall charged motorists who used the 120 spots $2.45 for an hour, $6.45 for three hours and $10.45 for four hours or more. Kahn said Brookfield would donate 10% of the parking proceeds to Grassroots Crisis Intervention, which specializes in 24-hour crisis support, emergency shelter services and walk-in counseling in Columbia.

Out of the mall’s 6,675 parking spots, more than 6,000 remained free.

While Brookfield pitched paid parking as a solution for customers, many seemed unwilling to pay when free spots were available a short distance away.

Around midday on Aug. 24, customers could be seen walking toward the mall’s entrance past rows of empty paid parking spaces.

“Our customers have been utilizing the program,” Kahn said in her email.

Banner reporter Jess Nocera contributed to this story.