Shopping Arcade

Shopping malls are sprouting out like mushrooms after rain.

There are plentiful of shopping malls; yet it is crowded and filled with shoppers who seem to have an unlimited resource of funds. I remember reading the papers with more than 5 new shopping malls scheduled to be constructed in Singapore not long after visiting the newly-opened VivoCity.

However, there is not many shopping arcade around. Off-hand, I am only reminded of Bugis Junction, Singapore.
It is a successful shopping arcade whereby in between rows of colonial shophouses, the architect has delicately designed a transparent enclosure in between them to create a sheltered, air-conditioned shopping arcade.

Unfortunately, the popular shopping arcade known in Malaysia is the Petaling Street. The have constructed an enclosure over the stalls in hope of making the open market widely popular in Asian countries. You can get pirated branded handbags to the almost-extinct delicacy of duck liver wrapped with intestines (I always forget to take picture of this as I would have happily ate it… haha)

The nearest it would seemed is the NXZ (NiuXeZui) opened in Ara Damansara. I have only known it existed after more than a year of it being opened.

The website is beautifully done to entice you into the place. The concept of a fully air-conditioned arcade is foreign here; hence my interest to take a look at the place.

Alas, the downside and losing factor of this development is the obscure location. One had to go round and round (my friend took 45 mins) to find the place deep within the housing area of Ara Damansara. Fortunately, I noticed some banners along the way to the place and could reach within minutes from the main road.

The shops are spaced out further from each other to luxuriously allow small stalls/ kiosks in this air-conditioned thoroughfare. Unfortunately, with the lacking number of visitors, most shops facing this arcade are closed (almost most of the 1st floor above). The ground floor retail tries to survive with food eateries to cater to the local people staying in the surrounding housing estate.

The stalls/ kiosks in the middle have a large array of interesting affordable knick-knacks. Unfortunately, since not much visitors, we the limited visitors cannot find the seller anywhere nearby to purchase some of the items.
Large air-conditioning ducting protrudes out into this thoroughfare to air-condition the area. As I was visiting in the evening, I have no idea if it successfully cools the open-aired space. I was also pondering on the dwindling number of customers. I wonder how the management can afford to full-blast the air-conditioning when rental seems low.

Alas, an interesting concept for a commercial property on the losing ends because of its obscure location.

I guess this strongly illustrate the mantra of all property: “location, location & location” is what makes the property.