Not about sales but about shopping

Why I’m not as excited about The Gardens at Midvalley

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When I knew that the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur was open, I was there on the first day to ogle at the new gigantic mall in the middle of the shopping district of KL.

The Gardens opened their doors to the public on 26 September 2007 and I don’t even have a post to show what it looks like.

I was quite puzzled at my reaction to it and thought to pen my thoughts here:

  • Pavilion was a new concept store and a new building. The Gardens are Phase 2 of Midvalley Megamall. Being very familiar with the existing mall, I felt quite tired of the place, even if Phase 2 is spanking new.
  • The Gardens have touted Robinsons and Isetan as their department stores but I don’t know what other stores to expect from them. There have been no advertisements or “Coming Soon” signs anywhere on the unfinished building that could tell me what other stores I might expect. I suppose there was therefore no anticipation.
  • Pavilion had lots of hoarding with the names and advertisements of their upcoming stores so it was interesting to see what they might have to offer.
  • The existing parking and traffic system at Midvalley sucks big time. These days, during lunch time, its virtually impossible to get near the mall due to the traffic. Parking is also a huge problem. Bukit Bintang isn’t exactly a wonderful place either, but I suppose I knew less of what to expect.
  • Because I work near the Midvalley area, I go there quite often and the massive construction and traffic around there plus severe lack of parking spaces puts me off. That was where The Gardens really lost out.

All said, since I work quite near the Midvalley area, at some point I would pop by the Gardens and when I do, I’ll write about it here. Better late than never eh?

September 27, 2007 | Filed Under Discussions | 7 Comments 

To buy generic brands or not?

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When I was in the UK, I noticed that most of the supermarkets had a few categories of items - branded, luxury generic, mid-priced generic and cheap generic. As a struggling student, with there being quite a price difference between the branded and generic brands I used to buy generic but would splurge on the branded stuff once in a while.

Later, I found out that some generic items or “own-brand” items were actually manufactured by branded manufacturers but just repackaged into the generic packaging. For example, ABC brand of biscuits would retail for GBP1 but Tesco Choice would retail for 60p. However, the actual biscuits were actually manufactured by ABC so you were getting similar quality products but at a cheaper price if you buy generic.

The point of it all is that generic is not necessarily of a lower quality or worse than a branded product. In fact, you may find yourself saving money buying generic brand items.

I would buy generic brands for items where it doesn’t make much of a difference:

  • Toilet rolls or tissue paper
  • Sugar and salt
  • Bottled water
  • Stationery like files or envelopes
  • Cotton pads and cotton buds
  • Some better quality shower gels

I would not buy generic brands for:

  • some food stuff because I’m picky
  • sanitary pads
  • cleaning detergent
  • most shower gels and all shampoos
  • cosmetics

So, would you use generic brand items and if you will, what will you use and what won’t you?

September 25, 2007 | Filed Under Discussions | 5 Comments 

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