Most Chinatown shops closed early

From: baldeagle
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 18:11:19 -0700 (PDT)
Local: Thurs, Jul 2 2009 9:11 am
Subject: Re: Most Chinatown shops closed early....

On Jul 2, 2:27 am, Zanzibar wrote:

> Last night was at Chinatown. It was early about 9pm but the night was
> quiet. There was no crowd in the streets around chinatown hawker
> centre.

> It was a yawning night of empty businesses on these shops and stalls
> in the centre. Passerbys in the streets were like "wondering ghosts"
> making their rounds of visits in their "ghostly" walk. They seemed
> like street loiterers - looking disinterested, wondering, mundaned,
> and subdued.

> By 9pm, most of the food stalls and shops downstairs have closed for
> the day. What was left was some food stalls that served after-dinner
> foods for those after-dinner visits. By 10pm, except for some people
> still finishing up their foods, the rest of the tables were empty of
> people.

> Some of the closed stalls have been closd for sometime. They hung up
> their "for rent" sign to let out their stall. Poor business kills
> their livelihoods. They are on "trying times" on their livilihoods.

> I think the upgrading of Chinatown did not really help in upgrading of
> its business. Firstly, The searing heat built-up in the centre is one
> of the main flaws that deter people from revisiting it again. There
> was no redesign to improve the removing of heat from the hawker
> centre.

> The ERP is the second one. Thirdly, the lack of purchasing customers
> roaming there was the cause of it.

I used to visit China town at least once a week ...for
a taste of good genuine Chinese food....for the
feeling of being among Chinese folks in a true "Chinese
community".

The ERP discourage my friends and I from making a
weekly trip down to China town....it is now once in
a few months.

Now, more tourists than locals visit the hawker stalls..
changing the atmosphere entirely...and the prices of
many food items have doubled....since the upgrading.

Yes. The last I was in China town...it is like a dying
ghost town.


From: Superbee
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 20:53:20 -0700 (PDT)

Scholars are very good at upgrading a place to make it modern but they
are very weak in retaining the charm, culture and spirit of the place.
They can think with their minds but they don't know how to feel with
their hearts.