Parkway Parade

Parkway Parade

From a list of suburban malls' ranking done by The Straits Times, my dearest favourite mall came out 4th. The top mall was Causeway Point, then United Square, followed by Tampines Mall. Seeing these so called top malls, I'm like come on, I'm pretty sure Parkway can beat them flat any man! And Parkway came out 4th?! Oh my god! Do the judges know how to shop?! Like where the heck is United Square? So shoot me! I've never heard of that mall, so does it derserve to come out 2nd? And Causeway Point, I'd been there once and hated it. The moment I stepped into that mall, I felt as though I went to a mall in Malaysia. The whole decor of Causeway Point is so JB! And Tampines Mall is just so bland. Parkway would beat them flat any time any how!

So, for an in depth analysis of Parkway, and yours truly slamming of the scores given to Parkway, this follows...

Family oriented, Parkway was graded 4 out of 5 which is just pathetic! From baby stores to granny shopping, Parkway has it all. For babies, there's Mothercare, growing children Learning Fun, housewives the two supermarket and hypermarts, for men there's like all the electrical appliances shops Best Denki blah, bargain shops for the grannies and gramps, shops that were there since the opening of Parkway long before the three top malls. Parkway is indeed a place for families to go to chill and get together.

Child friendly, the blind judges gave Parkway a 3! Parkway has children toilets okay... And the store that allows children to do handicrafts. And the arcades. And before its removal, there was Parkway's trademark Octopus. Pity it now lies beside NTUC, out in the open. I missed those days when I would go to the Octopus to play, and there were also other little sea animals around, but my favourite was still the big Octopus. But they do have the Waterfall area for kids to play now. Oh yah, and Parkway has those Children Cab or something like that which parents can rent to push their kids around. Always thought that that was fun. I mean with Kinderland just around the corner, Parkway has to be child friendly.

Baby friendly, Parkway also scored an atrociously low grade of 3. Yup, there's the changing table for babies in the toilet though there isn's a nursing room, but those judges shouldnt give Parkway such a low grade what.

Handicap friendly, another low grade of 3.5. I mean, there are adequate lifts around Parkway and there isn't any steps in Parkway to stumble the wheelchaired. The Waterfall area has also been renovated to allow wheelchaired people to get around the area easily, so why the low grade, blind folks?

Accessibility. I'd think that this grade of 4 is pretty fair. Parkway is not the most accessible place around. There isn't any MRT stations but this isn't the problem of Parkway, it's the problem of Marine Parade. It seems quite ironic that during the 11 years ex-PM Goh was in office, he never once lobbied Marine Parade to get an MRT station. But then again, Marine Parade is the most dense estate, the will never be space to build a station. Then thinking again, Marine Parade does have a very varied range of bus services, just not the buses that come by my house. Sad...

Carpark facilities, Parkway too got 3 which is totally uncalled for. What's wrong with the carpark?! There will always be space for cars to park as the 7th level carpark is always empty. Aren't all carparks the same? From the longest time ago, Parkway's carpark already have those electronic signs that tells you the number of lots available at each level. And the stairs are near cos the carpark is small, so what's up with the judges?!

Food courts, a 5 for Parkway. No other mall can come close to Parkway with 2 food courts, one very very large extended one and one halah food court with an open air barbeque annex. It beats any other mall flat flat!

Restaurants, a pathetic 4. Okay, we all know that the judges were blind when they went into Parkway and hence did not see Crystal Jade, that Thai restuarant I never knew the name but has been there ages, that Indonesian restuarant too Khartini or something like that, and Jack's Place, Swensons, Sakae Sushi with Teppanyaki(!), yup the judges are sure blind. And to give a little more credit to Parkway, with a big name Sin Leong, now called Roland's, the is indeed lots of competition in that area.

Cafes, another pathetic 4. The blind judges maybe forgot that Parkway includes the open air cafes of Water-something selling pancakes, Gelera, Starbucks, Swensons cafe, Delifrance, the little coffeehouse inside MPH, yup... Blind judges...

Snack outlets, a good old 5. I mean with Anderson's Ice Cream, Famous Amos' Cookies, that other ice cream shop, Aunt Anne's Pretzels, my favourite Cold Storage stall that sells cooked meat and dounuts, and the chocolate stall that sells chocolate and chocolate dipped strawberries... Yummy... Makes me feel hungry...

Entertainment options, an decent for 4 since that there's no cinemas in Parkway, there's that lod lao pok dao bi one around the corner. hehe... There's no Karaoke facilites since K-box is situated across the road, so it makes no sense for another chain to open one in Parkway. There's an arcade though...

Ambience, a low low 3.5. The unfeeling judges seemed not to like waterfalls since there the most beautiful glass waterfall in Parkway. Savvy Parkway Mall rats know that there is this verenda where you can look out of the top of the waterfall. A definite romantic site where lots of uniform-cladded students like to make out. And the lovely view of a large grass patch now sadly turned to a lovely view of construction site, but nonetheless lovely place to chill. And the overall feeling when you step into Parkway is one of friendly and long-established. I bet it's like one of the oldest mall in the list man. Give me any day, I'd tell you I prefer the ambience of Parkway to that of the JB-feel Causeway Point or that unfeeling TM.

Ease of navigation, Parkway scored a deserving 5. Need I say any more? I can go around parkway blindfolded and still know where I am.

Financial facilities, the blind judges gave Parkway a 4. With DBS, UOB and OUB branches along with POSB and OCBC ATMs around, what more do you want to ask for? Maybank, POSB and Standard Chartered are across the street, so you can't expect Parkway to have those as well, can you?

Speciality retailers, a 4.5. Umm... What do they mean by speciality retailers? So, John Little, Marks and Spensers, Isetan, Cold Storage, Giant, Courts, Best Denki, Esprit, Levis, Americaya, Bata, insurance agencies, slimming and beauty centres, Addidas, OP, 7th Heaven, medical centres, tuition centres, all these can't give Parkway a perfect 5?

Mobile phone services, a well-deserving 5 for Parkway with Singtel, M1 and Starhub all having stores there.

Information counter, Parkway was given a 4. So they think 2 -3 people manning the counter is not enough? The Kiddy Cab is not enough? Sistic outlet there is not enough too?

And the last comments by the judges, "... Unfortunately, it's toilets are either too packed or under repair." So the judges think that spoilt toilets are better?! And the number of people in the toilets are a good gauge of the popularity of the mall. An empty toilet would mean that the mall is empty and pathetic! Parkway can't help itself that its shoppers have weak bladders can it?

I just love Parkway. Since primary 4, I've been visiting it regularly after schools and during weekends with my friends. It used to be a 1-2 days a week average till secondary school. It's the best place for a student to hang out after school to just chat and chill and stone. During my first 3 months, I was at Parkway 5 times a week and even after that a 2-3 times a week average. Even though I'm now staying in NUS, I will still visit Parkway once a week when I return home. There is just no other place for me to go.

Even before primary 4, Parkway was my favourite place to go for say Saturday dinners with my family. I loved the Octopus there. Sadly, the Octopus has moved its resting position, but I still love Parkway.

I'll never forget the secondary school days with the dance people. We would have lunch there after our tiring dance practice and talk about school, about dance, about our lives, about our future, about everything possible. Our favourite hangout, the place outside Learning Fun, facing what was a green patch of grass, on the benches there, or at the benches outside the verenda of the waterfall, I remember once we sat around to benches and someone commented that we looked like we were having a cult session, or Long John's, the only place where we were assured of seats in crowded Parkway, that's the reason why it's gone now, occupied by Crystal Jade which is totally the opposite. hehe...

Parkway holds beautiful memories for me. And as long as I'm still living, I'll always visit Parkway on a regular basis. To me, you will always be the best mall ever! Even Orchard can't be compared to you...

hehe...

I must be neurotic to say this, but Parkway, I love you!