Boulevard Shopping Mall..

.. sucks. Big time.

Why, you may ask? Well I went there recently. I'll give a detailed description of the place.

Firstly, building a shopping mall beside a tiny strip of road isn't really a good idea. The road was already congested before they build Boulevard. Irresponsible drivers park their vehicles at the roadside. I mean, come on la, the parking is FREE! People! What's wrong with you??! Now its a perfect recipe for disaster. I pity anyone who's dying in an ambulance to be stuck there.

They really shouldn't have opened the place to the public that fast. I know, I live near that area. I saw the building go up from day 1, literally. Heard somewhere that the tauke of Boulevard was SOOOOOoooo kiasu and kiasi that he ordered the construction be sped up. Why? There's and upcoming new mall - The Spring, which is BIGGER, BETTER and with lots more PARKING SPACE than Boulevard. Once it opens, Boulevard will really just be another plaza and sink into oblivion. So I literally saw how they sped up the construction like slaves being whipped from behind by a big fat tauke. Pun intended.

The parking area was dusty and there were pools of storm water from the rain three days ago. (!!) wth.. drainage also lousy, I shudder to think about the building's structural integrity and strength. So its not a surprise to see beam and cement bags and scaffolding everywhere. There's a scaffold holding up the ceiling in B2 parking area. (!!!!) Omg.. And heck, the place smells of dust. Cement dust. I pity the people dining at Sushi King. Eat Dust Sushi.

Speaking of which, there are some good eateries opening up there. Sushi King, KFC, Pizza Hut etc. But there's no friggin Coffee Bean. BAD MOVE! But perhaps they calculated that 4th mile people drink green tea for breakfast instead.

Anyway, when I went there, HALF the place (shops) was empty, literally. They are still doing renovation works la. Yet the visitors and shoppers throng the place like pasar malam. I was like " what the heck.. what's wrong with these people.. " The whole shopping mall was tiny, by comparison. This statement might be due to the fact that I've seen the biggest shopping complex in Malaysia. One Utama, that is. The place is HUGE with lots of shopping avenues, just like.. a whale in an ocean. By comparison, Boulevard fares like ikan bilis, beside the behemoth.

The layout of the place is below average. Say, you wanna buy canned sardines and you're in the clothes section, you have to walk ALL THE WAY down 2 or 3 escalators, squeeze past the crowd (they stand there obstructing people, nothing better to do at home) and inhale cement dust before you even see the canned foods section. In other words, the whole place is.. a mess. I feel disoriented after 15 minutes inside. They don't put up signs to show where the foodstuffs are, the clothes are and whatever thingamajig you wanna find. Talk about bad planning.

There are some brands, albeit common ones, inside Boulevard departmental store itself. Yet I see no friggin Bonia or Valentino Rudy or G2000. ( I heard that G2000 will set up its first store at The Spring ) Well maybe they just wanna cater to the needs of the people from that area.. Not many millionaires in Kuching.

So.. I've written a detailed ( I hope, do ignore the criticisms ) description of Boulevard shopping mall. I'd give it 6 months to see whether it even survives. So for those who haven't been there, you did not miss anything. That is, unless you like Dust Sushi. Courtesy of Sushi King.