While we lament the soaring fuel and food prices on our home front, I think it is taking its toll on the big companies as well. (No consolation right?). I was at a shopping mall in Ipoh last week and was just milling around a department store when I felt very uncomfortable after about ten minutes. I was beginning to perspire around the neck when all I had been doing was walking around very leisurely. It was the latter part of the afternoon and there was hardly a crowd to speak of. In fact, apart from the sales personnel and the odd shopper or two, the store was almost empty. Then I realised that either the air-conditioning was turned off completely, or it was turned on just so that it was barely detectable. Still, the discomfort was beginning to get to me and I just wanted to get out of there, pronto.
Among other things, I think there are people who go to shopping complexes to escape the outside heat, even momentarily. And while one may have set out simply to browse and look-see, the comfort provided by the air-conditioning could induce one to stay longer. The longer one stays, the more the temptation to spend. Isn't that what the stores hope for after spending millions so we could shop (or window-shop) in relative comfort? Store ambiance and creative displays are one thing; but how long can, and would you stay in a store/shop when perspiration beads start to form? Nothing beats the comfort of an air-conditioned premise; that alone is one of the draws of the shopping mall. Without it, the condition might be akin to the open-air or wet market where you would normally buy whatever you want and dash off. Which was exactly what I did that day. Perhaps it was a cost-saving measure on the part of the store or the complex management, an act of frugality when times are hard. But I think it will turn shoppers away. Worse still, it will be the death of retail therapy (for me, it would!).