Tropicana City Mall – A new mall to visit
I popped by the new Tropicana City Mall to check it out during the weekend. According to the newspapers, it was opened to the public on 18 December 2008 which I reckon is for purposes of the Christmas crowd. I was there on Sunday and did not notice much of a crowd.
In fact most people there were curious about the place or maybe people living around the Damansara Utama and Damansara Jaya area.
If you come from the Sprint Highway, it is easy to make a mistake and turn into Damansara Intan. So keep your eyes peeled for the signs and turn AFTER the Damansara Intan (San Francisco Steakhouse) turnoff. Parking for now is underground and is free. You still have to take a ticket, but its free parking for now.
The mall is still relatively untenanted. The main tenants are Carrefour and the GSC Cinema. However, neither are open for now. Carrefour has its signs up but shutters are closed. GSC on the top floor has no sign of activity.
I found that I nearly slipped and fell a few times because the tiles were very slippery with dust. I attribute it to the ongoing construction in and around the mall that is still going on despite the mall being opened to the public. The construction dust makes the tiles rather treacherous.
There is also no ATM up just yet and I noticed that none of the stores can accept credit cards just yet because their phone lines are not in. Due to that, I was unable to make a number of planned purchases.
I found the layout of the Tropicana City Mall rather haphazard. From where I parked, I had to walk the whole length of the mall before I could find an escalator to go to the main concourse area. There isn’t much available in terms of food just yet too.
I reckon it will be a mall to serve the neighbourhood, much like Bangsar Village or Bangsar Shopping Centre. If you live outside of the area, it is pretty much just another mall unless you plan to visit some of the specialty boutiques or stores in the mall.
I will pop by from time to time because I have a friend who has set up shop there. However, other than that, I cannot see myself using it as a hangout place unless you live in the area.