Due to its location, mass market brands are unlikely to take up space at this mall because of the low traffic. So you'll find one of its kind store selling avant garde furniture, bespoke tailored shirts and custom made shoes. And because the target customers of these retailers are so niche, that in turn results in even fewer shoppers.
While there are a few of the well-known food and beverage brands such as Starbucks and MOS Burger at the mall, these do not really help in attracting crowds.
The mall has been trying out different concepts in order to differentiate itself from its competitors and attract crowds there, especially on weekends where the nearby office buildings are empty. For example, they once tie up with a Japanese departmental store to bring in their local brands and also provided space for local fashion brands. However, both did not take off.
One particular shop caught my eyes. It is probably a new shop as I did not see it the last time when I was there, which was like two months ago.
What really attracted me was the shop name.
It's called "The Redundant Shop."
And what attracted me to look at the shop name were the items displayed on the show window.
They got shovels and spanners and I think leather bags among other things.
"Who in the hell goes to a upmarket shopping mall to buy these items?" I thought to myself.
Inside the entrance of the door was a big post on the wall that reads "Great Shit. Nobody Noticed."
I looked in and saw two ladies looking at what looked like fashion accessories on a wooden display table. It seemed that this shop sells all kind of things that could be totally unrelated.
A search on the web showed up items like bicycle, socks, disposable camera and none of shovel and spanner.
Were they chosen to stop passerby and make them take a second look? If this is the reason, then they have succeeded in getting my attention.
But some people, it may trigger a different reaction. They may see the shovel and spanner and have the same thought as me but dismissed them as irrelevant to them. It may still get others curious enough to walk into the shop to find out more.
Obviously, the shop didn't quite succeed in getting me in. Not because they did anything wrong, but rather I'm not the kind of customers for them.
Just then, something flashed across my mind.
Don't you think that this shop name is so applicable to every other shop in the mall? Don't you think that this shop name is applicable to every and any other businesses?