Which means that this is going to be a short working week.
And if you are on leave today, this only means it's an even shorter week for you.
So off I went to Johor Bahru, Malaysia through the Woodlands causeway in the north of Singapore, a bridge linking both countries.
Going to JB (the short form of Johor Bahru) for shopping and eating is a great pastime for Singaporeans. Everything is almost half priced, especially the food. More importantly, they have some traditional eating places which are fast disappearing in Singapore.
But JB is not an easy place to navigate as they do not have subway. Most Singaporeans are also not familiar with the bus system there. For some places, taking a taxi there is easy, but going back is difficult as there may be no taxi. So most of the times, people drive.
Driving has its fair share of difficulty as well. For one, the bad reputation JB has in terms of safety. You can often hear and see news of daylight robberies, even on the road. You could stop a car on the road and suddenly a motor bike stops besides you and before you know it, your window is smashed and you're robbed. Or you can park your car at a car park and come back to find that your car has been towed away.
So unless you have a car which can takes you anywhere you want to go, you can only go places where taxis are easily available. That means the major shopping centers like City Square which is a link bridge away from the custom. Another favorite place is Jusco at Tebrau City. There's a few brand name shops and a supermarket. In fact, many Singaporeans go there to do their weekly groceries shopping.
Yesterday was the second time that I went there within a month.
Frankly speaking, I'm getting a little bored of the place. Well, perhaps I'm the one who's boring.
And I began to compare my experiences shopping in Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok.
Well, you can't really compare the three cos Singapore and Bangkok are considered cosmopolitan cities, whereas JB isn't that developed (compared to the capital, Kuala Lumpur). But because of the proximity to Singapore, it is considered quite developed as compared to other parts of Malaysia.
One thing I noticed about most shops at Jusco are they are basically shops. Yes, shops are shops. But every other shop looks the same. The shop selling baby items looks the same as another shop selling the same products. They are just spaces displaying items they are selling. Not much visual display except mannequins. The only differentiating factor is probably the sign and name of the shop.
It's a different story in Bangkok. Each shop has its own way of displaying their items. Each shop has its own character and it is conveyed through the way the shop is designed and the atmosphere it creates. Even in places like Chatuchak, the famous weekend market, you can tell one shop from another. Don't be surprised of seeing chandelier hanging from a tiny shop there, a lady clothes shop that looks like a personal room, or a shop selling aromatherapy products that is fit for a high-class shopping center.
What about you? Do your shop create an experience for your customers?