There are about 80 shops in total compared to a normal mall which has about 200 shops.
Bedok Point is located within walking distance from the bus interchange, the mrt train station, a hawker centre, numerous food courts, three supermarkets and many shophouses selling all kinds of food and stuff. While it is within the centre, it is quite secluded and away from where the heavy human traffic is.
I remember when it first opened, there was a lot of buzz in the neighborhood as it was the first shopping mall to open at that area.
There are the familiar brands of restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets and retail shops.
Being the only shopping mall with all the new options, everyone is going there. The queues at eating outlets were crazy during weekends. It looked as if the whole neighborhood's population was there.
The mall enjoyed first mover advantage.
One year before the mall opened, there was an announcement by the government to transform the existing bus interchange into an integrated transport hub comprising an air-conditioned bus interchange, a retail mall and a private residential complex.
The new mall, Bedok Mall, opened three years after Bedok Point opened.
And that's when the nightmare began.
With the bus interchange located within the same building, it's proximity to the mrt station and being next to the hawker centre, the human traffic around there is crazy. This is the central point where people staying in the area will have to pass by to continue their journey to other places by bus or train. There's even a upscale supermarket within the mall and as an anchor tenant, it attracts a lot of shoppers.
When Bedok Mall was still new, it attracted a lot of people. And because it is so conveniently located, people are choosing to come to this mall instead of Bedok Point unless they cannot find what they want at Bedok Mall. This means that people are not going back to Bedok Point.
Many restaurants and retail outlets moved to the new mall. Those that cannot afford the rent at the new mall started closing down. The food court within the mall is now taken over by a music school.
I wondered why did they open a food court in the mall in the first place when there is a famous hawker center selling cheaper and nicer food nearby. Were they targeting customers who want to dine in the comfort of aircon over pricier and less tasty food?
On the third level of the shopping mall, there were only 7 units occupied out of the approximate 26 units available. There is one hair salon, one KCut, a dental clinic, a chinese noodle shop, a beauty salon, a massage parlour and a education center.
You can still see the lighting left over by tenants who have vacated the spaces.
One or two units are fitted with coin-operated rides and massage chairs to fill up the area so it doesn't look too empty.
Did the management of Bedok Point make the decision to build the mall based on some assumptions that went wrong?
The staff at the customer service counter had nothing to do and seemed bored fiddling with her mobile phone. The toilet cleaner is probably the happiest person as the toilets were not heavily used. Her only worry is if the mall closed down.