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[Dunia] Mustapha Shopping Centre Singapore akhirnya ditutup

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Post time 15-1-2017 11:35 AM From the mobile phone | Show all posts |Read mode
Edited by LaksamanaBentan at 15-1-2017 11:38 AM

For the past 23 years, the Serangoon Plaza branch of Singapore's famed Mustafa shopping centre has been Mr P. Mohamed Rafeek's workplace.

"This was the biggest building in the area in the eighties and nineties. It was almost like a palace," the 44-year-old said wistfully.

At night, as cars choke the main thoroughfare of Serangoon Road and spill over into neighbouring streets, fluorescent lights at the 24-hour shopping emporium flash across the road.



The green retro-styled signage, bearing the names of owners Mohamed Mustafa & Samsuddin Co, harks back to those halcyon times, beckoning travellers and sleepless Singaporeans to rove through aisles overflowing with clothes, household electronics and other trinkets.

But Mr Rafeek has now been displaced from his palace of yore.

From hole in the wall to household name
Mustafa has become a household name among tourists and Singaporeans alike, but it had humble beginnings as a hole-in-the wall garment shop in 1971.

The shop, which measured 500 sq ft, was opened in Campbell Lane in Little India by the current managing director, Mr Mustaq Ahmad, with his father Mustafa and uncle Samsuddin.

Two years later, they rented a second 900 sq ft shop in Serangoon Road and sold electronic items.

In 1985, the shops were acquired for conservation and Mr Mustaq opened his flagship department store at Serangoon Plaza, leasing 12,000 sq ft of space.

This was a year after Feature Development's purchase in 1984 of the property, which used to be known as President Shopping Centre.

In the late 1980s, the anchor tenants were Mustafa and another department store, V.K. Kalyanasundaram and Sons (VKK).

Wanting to have his own building, Mr Mustaq homed in on some old shophouses along Syed Alwi Road just around the corner. He bought them one by one until he owned the whole row. In their place, he put up Mustafa Centre, which opened in 1995.

In late 1995, $1 million was pumped in to renovate and expand Mustafa's retail space in Serangoon Plaza to its current size of about 65,000 sq ft as VKK and other small shops gave up their space.

Mr Kalyanaram, 41, the grandson of VKK's founder V.K. Kalyanasundaram, recalled that the two families were on cordial terms.

Mr Kalyanaram, who had helped out in the business when he was a secondary school student, said: "Our family members had no problem buying things from Mustafa if a product was not available in our stores. Nobody said we couldn't do that just because we were competitors. "

Yuen Sin

Come next month, the five-storey Serangoon Plaza will be demolished. In its place will rise a gleaming, new 19-storey building - Centrium Square, a mixed development property consisting of medical suites, retail stores and offices that will be completed in the third quarter of 2019.

Since early this month, the retail supervisor has been working at the Mustafa Centre building, where he gingerly squeezes his way past racks that have been crammed with even more dry-fit shirts and sports shoes - because of stock that has been moved over from the Serangoon Plaza branch. "It's a bit more packed here, but I'm passionate about the job. If the store moves, I will follow," said Mr Rafeek, who has seen Mustafa's staff strength grow from a few hundred in the early 1990s to about 1,700 now.

As the deadline for moving out looms, Mustafa, which has occupied the building since 1985 and now leases 65,000 sq ft of space on three floors - about 70 per cent of the total retail space in the building - has been clearing its shelves out and moving all merchandise next door to Mustafa Centre.

The other tenants, including offices and travel agencies, are also moving out of the building.

Mustafa's total retail space will be reduced by about a quarter, with the remaining store at Mustafa Centre building - owned by the company - having over 200,000 sq ft.

Some older stocks at the Serangoon Plaza branch have been cleared out, but most will be moved to the bigger building, which opened in 1995.

Mr Magendran, 37, an assistant supervisor at Mustafa's electronics department, said that goods that cannot find space in Mustafa Centre can be kept in its Kallang warehouse. This will help to alleviate the space crunch.

A Mustafa spokesman said that all of its staff are staying put, and that it has no plans to secure more retail space for now.

Tributes to Serangoon Plaza, which housed Mustafa's flagship store, have poured in after the announcement of its demolition date last week. Some, like operations manager Koh Wee Liang, 39, came with cameras to document a landmark that has been a favoured night-time haunt. Others, like administrative worker Leslie Lauw, 59, would miss the easy navigation of the more spacious branch - "unlike Mustafa Centre, which is a huge congested maze".

But most, like IT engineer Kulashree Phegade, 31, are glad the iconic Mustafa and its wide range of offerings are still around. "As long as it has the goods I need, like Indian groceries and electronics, I will come back to Mustafa," she said.

NOT LOSING THAT SPECIAL FEELING

Questions still remain when it comes to the retail giant's plans for the future.

Mr Magendran said it would have to find a way to contend with the weekend crowds now that all retail operations have moved to Mustafa Centre.

Ms Sarah Lim, a senior retail lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic, does not think that Mustafa's customer base will be adversely affected by the closure of its branch.

But it may find itself in a dilemma when it comes to deciding whether to reduce its sales range for the sake of crowd control.

"(Cutting down on goods) may not be what the customer really wants. People grumble, but they find a sense of familiarity in its packed layout and how it is brimming with goods.

"It's a psychological attachment that benefits Mustafa, though, of course, safety and security are compromised," said Ms Lim.

Retiree Chee Wai Khan, 60, who shops at Mustafa a few times a month, is unconcerned about the branch closure. "They don't bother you when you shop. There's not much difference in both places."

PRESIDENTIAL DAYS

Among those who remember the old-world offerings of Serangoon Plaza, however, a tinge of nostalgia remains.

First built in the 1960s as President Shopping Centre before being bought by Feature Development, a unit of Tong Eng Group, in 1984, it boasted Singing Palace, a theatre restaurant on the second level that played host to popular Taiwanese songbird Yao Su Rong in the 1970s.

Writer Boey Kim Cheng, 51, who frequented the area in his childhood in the early 1970s, recalled how the President Shopping Centre's "clean, white and unfussy shape gave it a slightly dignified, even majestic, air, a dramatic contrast to the surrounding streets which teemed with hawkers and vendors". He added: "It's sad that it is going to join the already long list of vanished sights in Singapore. It will no doubt add to the growing sense of absence and dislocation among older generations."

http://www.straitstimes.com/sing ... ink_time=1484437026

Bangunan iconic zaman 80 an 90 an

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Post time 15-1-2017 11:44 AM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
Oemgee sayangnya.

Though I've never been there myself
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Post time 15-1-2017 12:04 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
Kena take over dgn sepet ke
Malas nak baca sampai habis....
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Post time 15-1-2017 12:07 PM | Show all posts
alahaiii....
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Post time 15-1-2017 12:55 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
Mustafa ni ala2 mcm mydin kan?
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Post time 15-1-2017 01:04 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
mydin india tulen datang malaysia anak2 kawin
orang tempatan dapatlah status bumi
tapi koling tetap koling
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Post time 15-1-2017 01:10 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
pernah datang sini..
ala-ala mydin jugak..
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Post time 15-1-2017 01:16 PM | Show all posts
pernah pergi. 2am masih bukak, orang pun ramai
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Post time 15-1-2017 01:30 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
Tmpt beli perfume murah cni
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Post time 15-1-2017 01:53 PM | Show all posts
penah gi sekali aje. best dalam tu macam2 ada.. semua ada dari makanan ke make up &toiletteries ke barang kemas ke barang letrik segala.
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Post time 15-1-2017 05:43 PM | Show all posts
tak jugak mcm mydin sbb dia neh 24 jam...tapi mmg sayang la....
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Post time 15-1-2017 06:44 PM | Show all posts
pernah masuk sekali... 24 hrs bukak, masuk pukul 3 pagi pun ramai orang... lebih kurang mcm mydin lah.. quality barangannya mcm diragui jugak lah... sayangnya nak tutup dah
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Post time 15-1-2017 06:50 PM | Show all posts
kenapa masuk cari forum malaysia?...

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Post time 15-1-2017 07:02 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
Mustapha ni mamak ke Melayu
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Post time 15-1-2017 07:47 PM | Show all posts
tempat lepak @kak_sue  ni
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Post time 15-1-2017 08:01 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
Mustafa centre ada 2 branches.. satu di Serangoon dan satu lagi di little India... hanya branch Serangoon di tutup...
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Post time 15-1-2017 08:01 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
sebu replied at 15-1-2017 07:02 PM
Mustapha ni mamak ke Melayu

Indian muslim
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Post time 15-1-2017 08:07 PM | Show all posts
Pernah pi Mustaffa ni.. semua benda dia ada jual dari jarum hinggalah ayam mentah,
buka 24 jam, sayang tutup. Tempat membeli coklat yg tidak diragui, murah pulak tu..
sayang nak tutup.
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Post time 15-1-2017 08:23 PM From the mobile phone | Show all posts
i pernah gi yg little india.kul 7am sampai spore, tatau nk gi mn, so gi mustafa. dr artikel tu, mcm x tutup je
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Post time 15-1-2017 09:07 PM | Show all posts
beli jam Casio kat sini lebih 5 thn lepas.. alhamdulillah masih elok sampai sekrg
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