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Commercial space at 1st Avenue Mall is spread over seven levels, from Lower Ground to Fourth Floor, and on the Eighth Floor. The fifth to seventh floors are taken up by the car parks. The eighth floor, billed Cloud Eight, has an open viewpoint of the city of George Town.
1st Avenue Mall (25 November 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
The highest number of outlets are taken up by apparel stores, or rather, shops selling ladies' clothes. At time of opening, the mall has Parkson Department Store as the anchor tenant. Other major tenants are the usual suspects, such as Giordano, Watson's, Kenny Rogers, Red Box, Starbucks, Sushi King and The Body Shop.
Click here for 1st Avenue Mall Store Guide
The cascade of escalators makes 1st Avenue a mall with a view (25 November 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
Most of the outlets are still not yet opened, so we will need to give it a little time to see whether this new shopping mall can generate some excitement in the heart of the city. Notably missing, as of now, are fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut. Also absent is a bookstore. In comparison, both Queensbay Mall and Gurney Plaza have two big ones. Without an upscale bookstore as a major tenant, this shopping mall will lose out on traffic from high-income patrons that regard visiting the bookstore de rigueur to their shopping experience.
Comparing the design of 1st Avenue Mall to its nearest competitor Prangin Mall, the latter comes across as box-like. There is little in terms of creativity shown in its design. We can argue that Prangin Mall is older, constructed at a time when mall designs were not as mature as they are today. Perhaps so, but this bankruptcy of imaginative design is also seen in a more recent mall, the equally box-like Penang Times Square, which brings to Penang the mistakes made by Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur. Thankfully at 1st Avenue Mall, there are gentle curves of the atrium reminiscent of malls such as VivoCity of Singapore.
1st Avenue Mall Outdoor Viewpoint (25 November 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
One of the most exciting features of 1st Avenue Mall is the open-air viewpoint on the eighth floor. It allows patrons to enjoy a panoramic view of the city, from the Seven Streets Precinct immediately to the south of the mall, to the high-rises in Jelutong and beyond. The cascade of escalators from the fourth to the eighth floor is another exciting architectural feature.
Lower Ground Floor at 1st Avenue Mall (25 November 2010)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
Updates
Updates
1 July, 2011Carrefour Market opens a supermarket at 1st Avenue Mall. It is the latest anchor tenant to a mall that badly needs to draw more customers.
28 May, 2011
Six months after it opened in November, 2010, 1st Avenue Mall has done a successful imitation of Penang Times Square. Just as Penang Times Square has kept most of its outlets unoccupied, so too has 1st Avenue Mall. I am being unfairly sarcastic. Of course both shopping malls would wish for more outlets to open, but as of now, this has not materialized, which is truly a shame, as that's the only way to draw customers over.
Click for list of Shopping Malls in Penang
  
   
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