Retail space locations and survival of business – a study. (Part 2 - Central Supermarket & Citrus Park).

Continue from my part 1, the close neighbor to the ‘Pearl Point Shopping Mall’ is the ‘Central Supermarket’. The supermarket itself as an anchor tenant is famous for its economical pricing of sundry items. The fully air-conditioned complex hosts a supermarket, a fish and vegetable markets, a ‘mamak’ and a ‘Malay’ restaurant, DIY hypermarket and many more retail outlets selling varieties from clothing to books and stationeries to florist. Evidently, the complex is successful in attracting shoppers even on weekdays.

My last observation was the third complex currently identified as the Citrus Park and well known as Parkson OUG (It was Kimisawa a long time ago when I was still a teenager). Compared with the first and second complexes, this one encompass different strategy as I can see that the management is establishing the complex more towards a ‘food/eatery heaven’ with lots of restaurants/diners setting up their business in the premise as the name implies. You can even find a Vietnamese cuisine there. The anchor tenant is Parkson (first and second floor) and ground floor is where ‘Giant Supermarket’ is located.

With the three complexes observed and studied, I personally think that those involve in retail businesses especially newcomers and small retailers are susceptible to complex surroundings and environment. Sometimes the architecture and design contribute to success or failure of retailers. Every so often shoppers complain of the costs of parking, visibility of shops or worst of all the inconvenience to shop in certain shopping complexes. So, as a retailer you have to consider all aspect in the respect of location before making a decision to open a retail shop.

Until next time, Hanafi is signing off.