Well, I decided to check out the two newest shopping sensations in town, namely the Boulevard and the Spring. Both of these monsters of retailing opened very recently, to take advantage of the holiday period, but I must say that I am slightly underwhelmed by the whole experience.
I mean, come on. What are we supposed to think when the two shopping centres – billed as the first true mega stores in Sarawak – open their doors before they are completed. I was under the obviously mistaken impression that a building was supposed to be completely built before it opened for use by the paying public. But alas no. This is Kuching.
Things looked fishy when the Boulevard opened first, and our neighbour warned us not to go to there because they had not finished the car park yet. So apparently, there were millions and millions of eager, and doubtless frustrated potential shoppers all trying to get in to this new palace of commerce, only to find it almost impossible because there was nowhere to park the car. And of course no one wants to park down the road and walk, cos this is the Tropics and people don’t do that!
So, Annie and I decided to give the Spring a chance first, mainly because it’s closer to our house and I heard the Spring has a branch of MPH, one of Malaysia’s few decent bookshops. So the opening day came, January 10th and –
CARQUAKE!! PEOPLEQUAKE!!!
You couldn’t get within half a kilometre of the place for the oceans and oceans of cars whose drivers were obviously trying the Spring because they couldn’t park in the Boulevard. I mean, the sheer number of cars was quite shocking – they were all double parking on the side of the main road from Simpang Tiga to Kuching, jammed solid all the way to the first set of traffic lights, and of course, the actual Spring car park itself was completely iced up with cars, and people were risking their lives crossing the busy road to get to the shops. You would think the Pope had come to town, or Elvis, or Billy Graham.
We decided on the spot to divert to the Saberkas building, which ought to be quieter, but were held up by the fact that the traffic lights were out, which made the traffic jam even more interesting and adventuresome. Eventually, we got to Saberkas, safe and sound.
Well, that’s life. In any case, we thought it best to avoid the Spring for a week or so until the dust settled, but eventually we couldn’t resist the temptation and made our first attempt to enter the place on Monday night. It wasn’t as hard as it appeared, and when we drove through the car park entrance, we descended into a bright, very well lit and absolutely cavernous underground car park which was thoughtfully signposted with little colour and number coded signs to stop you getting separated from your car forever.
Once we parked the car, we entered the bowels of the shopping concourse upon a sci-fi travelator which took us up towards the shops on bumpy rubber walkways.
Now, you know when a building is impressive by its effect on your emotions the moment you walk through the door. I have felt this transcendent sense of awe many times in my life – when I first entered King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, I was instantly touched by the sheer soaring glory of that most magnificent of ecclesiastical buildings. Also, when I first stepped up to the Statue of Liberty in New York, I was amazed by how human hands could create such a stupendous facsimile of the human form, in such detail. And more recently, when I first stood at the feet of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, I was humbled by their sheer size and precariousness.
Did the Spring make me feel anything like this? Frankly no. But it came close. The interior is huge, spacious, bright, and decorated with colourful paper lanterns hanging from the ceilings, and fake cherry blossom trees poking out just about everywhere. It has shades of the Suria KLCC or the Mid-Valley Megamall in KL, but on a smaller and simpler scale.
There are many, many shops, a sizable proportion obviously catering for the very well heeled, such as Habib the jewellers, which was complete with security guards toting serious-looking pieces of armoury.
Many of the shops were not opened yet, including my MPH, and many shop fronts were just walls or closed shutters. Nicely decorated and painted, but still walls and shutters. But despite the gaps, the place was friendly, airy and gave the impression that here was an upmarket shopping mall which wasn’t going to look down its nose at you. The food bazaar was a case in point – an eclectic collection of food stalls surrounded by tables with comfortable and swanky plush varicoloured seats. The place was colourfully and tastefully lit like a trendy bistro.
The food on offer covered a wide variety of cultures and geography – Indian, Indonesian, Western, pasta, Chinese, Japanese and even Arab. Oh and there was a branch of Sushi King right next door for us serious sushi junkies. I decided on pasta, though, and had a very healthy plate of fettuccine bolognaise which was so good I didn’t leave anything behind, which is very rare these days given my teeth...
Downstairs, there is a Starbucks, Kenny Rogers, and a Secret Recipe, for those who can’t resist a popular brand name. And, once all the shops are open, I predict that the Spring will be a hit. But for the time being, it remains just a candidate for greatness, rather than greatness itself.
Now, I hear you all scream, what about the Boulevard? Well, precisely. Seeing as yesterday was my wife’s birthday, she wanted to see what the Boulevard was like. So, off we went. Arriving on the scene, we found that the car park was now thankfully ready, but we were led on an amazingly circuitous route round the building before descending into the underground car park. This had no signposts unlike its Spring counterpart, yet was just as huge and absolutely crammed with cars, even at 6.30 in the evening. Eventually, after much searching, we found a space, and made our way to the entrance, making our way up into the shopping centre on an escalator.
I must say, my first impression was that the Boulevard is a shopping centre, whereas the Spring is a Mall. Apart from the fact that many of the shops are not yet open, the shops that are open are for the most part not much different from what you might find in Sarawak Plaza. Little brightly coloured boutiques selling Body Glove stuff and accessories for girls. A department store called, creatively “Boulevard”, which looks like a slightly downmarket Parkson clone. And, a decidedly under-stocked branch of Popular Bookstore. Few really eye catching or unexpected shops or really big international brands. Not even a computer shop or CD shop that I could see. The only highlight for us was the Kenny Rogers, where we had an excellent birthday meal.
After a brief diversion to the supermarket to buy fruit (really high-class that!), we trundled off to the car park, my only prize being a new dictionary from Popular that I could have got almost anywhere else.
If the Spring was not quite finished, then the Boulevard was even less finished than the Spring. We came away feeling somewhat deflated, expecting an enormous and elaborate ice-cream sundae and only getting a Popsicle on a stick. I think I will take my friend’s advice and wait till the end of the month for the MPH in the Spring to open. Then I will truly be in my own private version of Shopper’s Paradise!
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