Today is 4th May 2020. It was the first day 1 Utama is open full day. 10am to 10pm. Its Facebook message says ‘May the 4th be with you.’ I did not go, yet. However, will be asking if my friends have gone as well as how’s the actual situation in the mall. Image below, do visit their FB page to see all the shops which are open yeah. So, if you are there, what would you buy? Would it be just a cup of coffee and watching people walk by?
For shoppers, there was this positive news about retail. At first, it was the luxury good shopper news from China. It’s not the typical handbags yeah. It’s Hermes. Earlier article here: Revenge buying, what’s that? Then, there was this news about the tourist sites seeing an influx of tourists in China which was also confirmed by my friend in China. Now, there is news from South Korea that South Koreans have also started ‘revenge shopping’ and they have a term for it in Korean; ‘Bobok’
Article in uk.reuters.com At the Lotte Department Store there were long lines of shoppers. 29-year old Kim said, “I’m out shopping for the first time since the Lunar New Year holiday.” She showed her newly bought clutch and said to a reporter, “It’s so warm and so good to be out finally.” Shoppers and travellers thronged malls and expressways were jammed with people leaving Seoul to go to vacation island of Jeju.
Seoul began easing curbs on April 19 and has managed to bring down new daily infections from over 900 in late February to around 10 in the past week. In Jeju, travellers were at the beach, ate Korean-style barbecue and play golf. The mask was abandoned to enjoy the 20-degree Celsius (70 Fahrenheit) weather. Please do read an even more comprehensive article about this ‘revenge shopping’ over there in South Korea. Article in uk.reuters.com
Some say even if the malls are open, the number of visitors are likely to be way smaller than normal. Let me say, if the retail units remain closed, their sales numbers are ZERO. If they open and could get a 20% sales in the first month and slowly increasing over the future months, they have started the road to recovery. What’s even more important is for us to wear our masks, keep oursocial-distancing measures and well, buy a bit here and there.
As for the malls, of course they have to redouble their efforts to ensure the cleanliness of the mall while at the same time throw some very attractive offers to shoppers. By the way, before everyone forgets, the Movement Control Order (MCO) is still on until 12th May 2020. Today is just a relaxation of some measures.
This is what my Director General of Health Datuk Dr. Nor Hisham said, “We did not end the MCO. The perception that we have lifted the order is wrong,” said Dr Noor Hisham. He shared that the government had relaxed the MCO to a certain degree based on criteria listed by the World Health Organisation, which include empowering the community to possess strong social discipline to live in accordance with new norms. (read full article on his statement here) Happy shopping but please stay safe.
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