Repurposing the vacant spaces to generate income

Just when markets were in a rosy mood, the escalating number of Covid-19 positive cases starting in September put everything on halt again with the implementation of a 14-day conditional movement control order (CMCO) in Klang Valley, which has been extended for another 14-days until Nov 9, 2020.

Chris Chong, IOI Properties Group Bhd’s Mall Operations senior general manager: We remain resilient and are prepared to manage our workforce under different scenarios while maintaining efficiency and high service levels to our shoppers, tenants and business associates as the mall remains open throughout this difficult time.

Sara Fang Horton, UEM Sunrise Bhd’s head of retail strategy:  The Covid-19 pandemic and the previous MCO have shown that we need to pivot our placemaking strategies to continue building top-of-mind awareness in the community and among our loyal customers who appreciate Publika’s unique experiential and creative retail concept.

HC Chan, CEO of Sunway Malls & Theme Parks: Overall, the long-term outlook of the industry will remain healthy, resilient and robust albeit in a very different business model.

Despite the negative news, mall operators have remained calm and seen the current slow time as an opportunity for them to restrategise for future needs.

Henry Butcher Retail managing director Tan Hai Hsin believes that the shopping traffic will return gradually after the end of the second CMCO, when Malaysians get used to the current SOPs as the new normal.

Indeed, CMCO has restricted people’s movement, causing fewer people to visit the malls, but the main deterrent now is actually people’s qualms of malls’ safety, especially since the majority of the shopping malls have reported Covid-19 positive cases since end- September.

With savings depleted amid the pandemic, more families living in Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) low-cost flats surveyed in September have sunk further into poverty.

Datuk Chang Kim Loong: This PLS issue may open up a new can of worms as owners of freehold land will now hold on to their ownership forever for the benefit of their future generations, like the feudal system of land ownership under the colonial days where land plots are granted by lease and licence to cultivate.