Viva la Vivo... Or not?

Went Vivo on Mon... boy is it HUGE!

I LURVED all the brands there and stuff it was really great to see the wonderful clothing. But sucked to have an empty pocket. *rubs hands* well we all know where the bonus this year is going... But Vivo has a long way to go before I'll go again...

1) Firstly it has three carparks... GREAT right? NOT! There weren't any signs to the carparks until we were way too near. The vacancies at each carpark (Each one has it's own entrance) were not shown till you get to the gantry and by then there's no way to back out with 20 cars behind you. Why have 3 carparks when you don't give people information to make a choice?!

They should have a sign 100 metres before the area itself so that drivers can keep left and turn if need be.... AND they should show the freakin vacancies at the turnings and not at the gantries...

But the carparks are brightly lit, paths are wide and the lots are pretty wide too. They also have that green/red light thing on top so that you can see a vacant lot from far away...

2) They have plenty of lifts.... THAT'S GREAT! but not so great when you realise that some lifts serve the carpark only... and worst still some floors only. After getting out of that lift you have to walk a distance or even change to another lift to get to the shopping area... AND when you parked at the BLOODY 7th level (there's higher) you take the SLOOOWWW lift all the way to the 2nd level only to walk somemore through the carpark and end up at another lobby... It was like a maze man! And throughout we're thinking: Are we going the right direction?

They should have clearer signs. At each lobby, state which levels and parking sections that lobby serves and then which lobby is connected to this one to get to the shopping section. Even better, place the sign in the lift on the inside of the lift door, so that people are inclined to read as they ride the SLOOOW lift. (got nothing better to do anyway.)

3) And then there was hunting... URGH. Needless to say there were queues for food everywhere... even at a wierd place called the Chicken Rice Shop ... Like expensive Chicken rice sia. Most of it is confined to the basement and the side areas.... They claim that the areas are colour coded... True they were colour coded on the information map... but not the actual area itself. It was difficult to tell where you were and whether you were heading in the right direction without actual colour and signages.

They should have signs or stickers stuff on the floor telling people, this way to blue/orange section... or better yet just colour code the flooring or ceiling... It makes it easier for those who have difficulty reading or can't really see small stuff. So at intervals they can have "Food - Blue, Clothes - Orange, Kids - Red..." and they actually colour code the place...

The best part was that... when I consulted the map to see how to get to the foodies... there wasn't a "YOU ARE HERE" sticker. The ones in the basement had... the one next to the information counter didn't!

GET A "YOU ARE HERE" STICKER

And they need clearer signages at diffierent sections. It's NOT ENOUGH to tell people..

Basement 2 - Food
Basement 1 - Carpark
Level 1 - Clothing
Level 2 - Cinema...

DAMMIT when I get to the level I need to know where to go not just get to the level!! And the info map is sectionalised. Which means it only shows the Chunk it does not show individual shops and the shop's actual location. I understand that that would mean a HUGE map... but....

You can have a CHUNKED map at the mid section where the Information desk is... then at the beginning of the section have another map with details, like where each and every shop is...

Or even better... have interactive maps for people to play with. HAHA but it's ex and it'll spoil easily with all the people pressing day in and day out.

4) The toilets were filthy. Period.

Need more attendants. Sorry man but you need to be ready for the crowds. A filthy toilet is horrid.

5) Oh oh I forgot... the queues at the mum-mum places were impossible. I would be sprawled on the floor by the time they got to me.

More on the go eateries and fast food restaurants.

Maybe I didn't walk the whole place... but I certainly didn't see much... Fast Eating places. Singaporeans are ok with eating on the go like hotdogs, Old Chang Kee and stuff like that... and they help to shorten the queues.

6) When you go to a shopping centre... and you see a sign for LIFT LOBBY and there's a "P" next to it... what do you think? Carpark right?

NOOOO it was the PLAYGROUND! for goodness sake. Then I looked at all the signs... and not a single one I saw had a symbol for carpark. which means in the main shopping area... they did not give information on how to go home... maybe it's their trick to make people shop forever.

Playground can be a picture of a slide/see-saw. Carpark can show a Car...

7) We walked and walked to find places.... and my legs got tired... Whaddaya know.. no benches. The only ones were the ones at the playground... after looking at how the kids trample all over it and how tired the parents looked I decided that my legs could afford to walk till we got to Long John's.

Have benches around the main area for children to rest, Men to sit and wait for shopping wives and hungry couples having a bite.

8) And in some areas the lights weren't switched on! It was actually dark in some corners at 8-9p.m... Cost cutting or lousy wiring? Then they switched off the lights at the sections leading to our carpark space so we had to walk through a dark area to get to the car... And being 3/4 blind in the dark... I was scared man.

Think of better ways to save electricity. Compromising safety is not one.

There's actually a lot more... but I also want to talk about what I like about the place. Undeniably I love all the brands there... Next was how they used the space. Berjaya in KL had this HUGE wasted space in the middle. Love said that he preferred that as it looked grander. But I guess in Singapore, space is an important thing. To be able to fully maximise retail space is important. The ceiling was pretty high up so the shops still looked really grand and all.. more Posh I guess. So that was fine.

I loved the sparkly floor too. :)

And I like how they have a playground for the kids... Something for everyone really.

The MRT opened to Basement 2 too... so that will be convenient when I want to go without Love. :)

Shopping Shopping.