Avoid Times Square, man.

I knew I had it coming. The first (and supposedly last) time I went to Berjaya Times Square (BTS) when it first opened, I swore I wouldn’t go there again. Well, I had to break my promise last weekend.

On my first visit, I was stunned. Other than Debenhams (which is pretty small, and too overpriced for me), the whole place was so Ah-Beng, man. I was as if Sungei Wang Plaza transplanted itself and moved there. Hundreds and hundreds of shops selling Hong Kong fashion rejects, ladies shoes, DVD/VCD pirates, it was just too much for me. Even Sungei Wang had its redeeming qualities, BTS had none. There was no decent place to get a meal, not a single bookstore, not a single specialty shop of note. Just rows and rows of pigeon-hole shops (11 storeys, if I’m correct). And the top 6 floors are practically unoccupied.

So last weekend, my sis-in-law and her son came over from JB and wanted to try out the indoor roller-coaster park. OK, I needed to window-shop for a camera phone. So let’s give it another try, I said. Big mistake. Did you know that there isn’t a single phone shop in the thousands of shops there. I specifically remembered on my last visit there were plenty. I couldn’t believe it. There were many places selling phone accessories, but none selling phones. Is there is crackdown on legal phones now???!!

There still isn’t anywhere to get a decent meal, the upper floors are still totally empty, the 1000 Ah-Lian boutiques are still flourishing, the DVD pirates are still doing rip-roaring business. Interestingly, Borders are opening soon. I hope they really did a good market study.