KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — It has been close to a month since state agency Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) opened its all-Bumiputera Digital Mall.
While not as bustling as the predominantly Chinese-run Low Yat Plaza that is still popular with Malays, traders at the mono-ethnic tech mall are upbeat that business will pick up soon with all the hype created when Putrajaya first mooted the idea a few months back.
“We’ve done good I believe. Business is quite decent. Yes we may not see a packed crowd like Low Yat, but there is a steady stream of customers coming,” said one staff with Oppo, the giant smartphone company from China.
According to the mobile phone seller who declined to be named due to company policy, customer visits at Mara Digital Mall would “peak” during lunchtime on weekdays and all hours on weekends.
“We sold about 45 pieces. That is quite good actually,” the staff said.
Another staff working with local mobile phone network company U-Mobile also said that customers may not frequent Mara Digital Mall as much as Low Yat, but the numbers are good enough to make decent sales.
“I think it’s quite okay. The sales have been decent as well. And you have to remember that we are only a month old. Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen as many crowd as yet,” she told Malay Mail Online.
At a nearby store selling US brand Hewlett Packard computers and laptops, a vendor who gave his name only as Man said he felt the mall was doing relatively well despite chalking fewer visitors compared to the numbers seen at Low Yat.
“Ok, bang. ‘Alhamdulillah’. Quite a lot of customers coming. Especially during the school holidays and Christmas,” Man told Malay Mail Online, adding that his store sold about 15 computers and laptops in December.
“That is quite decent,” he said
Yesterday, Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri declared Mara Digital Mall a success, barely a month into operation, and announced a plan to open two more similar malls in Selangor within this year.
The Umno leader also said Mara will intensify its marketing campaign to promote the mall beginning this year as it aims to make Bumiputera tech traders serious players in the industry.
Ismail Sabri first mooted the idea to set up the Malay-only tech mall after the violent racial brawl that occurred outside the popular Low Yat Plaza on July 22 last year.
MARA later said it would look into the proposal to use its building for the mall initially dubbed “Low Yat 2”, despite criticism that the idea would only deepen existing racial prejudices.
