Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Of the Flea Market..

I heard so much about the flea market at the Amcorp Mall in PJ which is open only on Saturday and Sunday. And for the love on anythings unique and antique I thought that I should visit this mall on any of those days and see for myself what is this flea market is all about. I am use to the kind of flea markets while living in the US. It is indeed an interesting concept to get rid of old things that are still in good working condition including antique or it would just left to rots in the store. So people would sell those things at a flea market. I am told that the flea market at this mall is like the one in the US.

My spouse suggest that we should drive to PJ this Sunday and have a look of the flea market and at the same time visit the Amcorp Mall, which we had not visited before. As for us in Ampang Jaya there are no reasons to visit those mall on the other side of the city unless there are some interesting things happening. So the flea market is a reason to visit that place. And with the SMART tunnel it really made thing much easier to get there. Personally I have been rather curios of this flea market and wanting to visit it for sometimes already, but kept postponing. So come last Sunday just before lunch I drove the Honda to PJ via the SMART tunnel and within minutes we were there. Got to the Mall, parked the car at the basement and then went to look as to the whereabouts of the flea market. As we walk we soon found the market. Many things were been sold at the first floor from the lobby in a very disorganised way right into the ground floor of the mall. We went up to on to first floor. We kept looking and eventually found that the market were everywhere up till the top level of the mall. Here it is somewhat organised along the corridor of the levels, so one have to kept going up and use the escalator to get from one floor to another. We took our times to look around and found that it is not really that interesting and things are just like the fleas, all over the places although here it is a bit organised. The were many people looking to get a good buy or just window shops. We did just that and found ourselves hungry since it is already past lunch time. We look around for something to eat and eventually found a Malay restaurant that sell the Malay dishes. It is call the Selaro Negori. It look interesting and since we were hungry we sat to have a go at this place for lunch. Well it was OK since it is our first time and the price was quite reasonable. Anyway we left the restaurant satisfied.

We left the restaurant and then found a shop that sell many old furniture and other things including antiques. Soon enough we met the owner and I start looking at some interesting things there. To my surprise there was no price marked on every items. I ask and was told that they purposely did not put prices on the items. I was, of course disappointed and ask why this is so. The owner explained that he did not want the others who sell the same thing to know and compare the prices. What a ridiculous idea, business is about competition, the capitalist system that we practice in this country. I try to explain to him that putting prices is very important to the customers but he seem not to understand and kept repeating the same reason again and again. He says that he would only give the price to those who really want to buy those items. I thought that was rather naive. The price of an item is one of the factor that made anyone who want to buy start thinking of purchasing it and than, only than would one ask further about discount, if one had any intention of buying. Otherwise one would just walk pass the items without showing any interest at all. I think this owner is so confused with the business ethic and in the process lost in business. Obviously he has got more to learn about doing business. Well I actually felt unhappy with this episode in the shop but what could I do but lament about it. With that I just walk out and left the place disappointed.

Now that I have seen this weekend Flea Market at the Amcorp Mall, I am no longer curious about the happening there. Like the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'. I now knows what's in store there. With goods for sale displayed everywhere like those fleas, it is indeed a Flea Market. Well it is one of those Sunday that we venture on enjoying life...

The above image is part of my collections of antique. Have a nice Day..

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Pak Idrus,

Yes I have been to the flea market there. I had such a wonderful time there. There aare so many interesting and intriguing stalls. I bought some amzing collection of old stamps for my nephews and nieces there. I enjoyed the kueh2 sold there too.

I've decided to tag you for a nobel effort. Let's make it a reality for the that cause. Please visit my blog to find out about it, but Pak Idrus, if you're busy, you don't have to do it. Thank you.

Pak Idrus said...

ruby, thanks for the visit and those informative comments. Have a nice day. take care.