China Retail

Mall Management 101: Don't confuse your customers!

I was in Taipei for a week and dropped by the Core Pacific City (京華城) Mall to watch a movie. Core Pacific, or the Living Mall, as it's also referred to - yes it can be complicated, better to just refer to it as jin hua cheng since no Taiwanese know it's English name(s) - is a giant 200,000+ square meter 24 hour mall with a huge soccer ball as it's main feature. I've heard it called the Death Star, the Bon Bon, the Ball, and about ten other names. It's the default favorite of mine since it's 3 minutes from my office, has tons of parking, and sells corn dogs and this unusual cup-o-corn snack on B1, right in front of the movie theater. They also have VIP theaters, which have a sort of business class reclining chair, and you have to wear a sweater in the summertime to deal with the aircon.

It's a very complicated structure, and you can easily get lost trying to get out, or to your car, or to the third floor, or to the parking pay machine, or to the clubs on the top floor.

I snapped this photo of the sign in front of elevator #6, which read like an IQ test, and was a good lesson in bad mall management.

Can you figure it out?

Quick hint mini-translation:
- Weekdays
- Weekends
- After Hours A
- After Hours B

June 16, 2008

---