Baptism Of Fire

Chapter 3 – Pavilion KL. 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. We had KFC for dinner and then window-shopping :)
Pavilion KL is the anchor of a world-class urban development comprising two luxury residential towers, a corporate office and a proposed 6-Star boutique hotel that together adds up to a total gross built up area of 3.68 million square feet. The place is divided into 6 precincts – Bintang Circle, Gourmet Emporium, Couture, Connection, HOME and Seventh Heaven. It is also the first in the country to feature street-front retail shops. This is the current new marketing strategies of property developers in marketing their hub which is moving from product centric to customer centric, embracing a one-stop entertainment platform with very good mixture of tenants and leasing. And not to mention, everyone is going bigger and racing to become more upmarket.

I love it. The bigger the retail space means the retailers have more items on display and that means I have more pretty things to look at :) Malaysia retail industry is changing for the better. And Pavilion KL is an excellent example. The next few months are going to be pretty exciting for the local shopaholics, international tourist, suppliers, retailers and property developers. It’s the season where our local retail industry is all geared up for some new and exciting brands that are finally making it to our shores. To keep pace, existing brands are looking at bigger stores that will provide us with more choices. It’s a well known fact that true shopaholics prefer to shop across the causeway and elsewhere in the region because they have more brand choice. In terms of brand development, awareness and market share, we lag behind Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Japan. Pavilion KL aimed to bring the shopping experience of the world famous New York’s 5th Avenue, Tokyo’s Ginza and Milan to our Bukit Bintang.
On the other hand, I’m wondering how are these brands are going to sustain itself with their pricey items that only cater to the small & rich segment and very high retail rent? When it comes to spending money, we’re still not willing to splurge on clothes. How many of us are buying as opposed to browsing? Not many of us can fork out RM2K for a top? Perhaps it’s the tourist that will provide the profit margin. But then again, tourist arrivals are pretty seasonal as well. But I also have heard stories that by selling 3 branded handbags a week, it was good enough to cover the overall operating expenditures. How true is it? No idea.
It’s good to have some up-market fashion but the affordability is questionable. There were many foreign brands that I have never heard of such as Thomas Pink and Mandarina Duck. They sound cute but they have my favorite brands as well - Hermes, Hugo Boss, Diane Von Furstenberg, Banana Republic, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren.
And The Gardens Mid Valley; another upmarket fashion-focused shopping gallery which will be opening soon will be anchor by Singapore’s Robinsons. Malaysia can now reinforce its attraction as a top Asia retail hub.

After shopping, we had a stroll at the KLCC Park. We talked a lot. Talk, talk and talk. It was the past and present but never the future. I was glad. I don’t know when I am able to learn to let go, have a bit of faith and remember that life is full of good things to learn and experience too :)