Bygone Times Brought Back to Malang’s Malls
ng. A rice paddy overrun with chicken and ducks lies beside a fish pond and a horse stable. Nearby, a bamboo gazebo stands opposite rows of food stalls selling traditional delicacies and snacks.
This is neither a traditional market nor rural area — instead the scene is being played out inside a shopping mall in Malang, East Java.
The artificial village was built on a 2,000-square-meter plot in a month on a budget of about Rp 60 million ($6,200) said Erick Richardo, the marketing communications manager of Malang Town Square.
At the center of the area stands a stage featuring traditional performances — from Javanese folk songs to shadow puppet shows — from April 13 to today.
Eleven shopping centers around Malang are participating in the Malang Tempo Doeloe (Old Time Malang) celebration, whereby the malls decorate their interiors to represent what once stood in their place in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Erick said the event has attracted 25,000 to 45,000 visitors per day, while the mall’s revenue has been 30 percent higher than on normal days.
The annual event was the brainchild of Dwi Cahyono, chief of East Java’s tourism promotion agency.
“In Mitra [shopping mall], for example, the concept is ‘Grand Cinema,’ since a cinema existed there from the 1950s until the 1970s. Visitors can learn and see from the decorations and classic photos all about the cinema, about the history of the building and also some of the movies featured at the time,” Dwi said.
From 2005 until last year, the annual event was staged at Malang’s historical Jalan Ijen, while the Indonesian Shopping Mall Association (APPBI) has since 2011 staged a separate event called the Malang Shopping Adventure.
“This year, we combined Malang Tempo Doeloe and Malang Shopping Adventure into one event. Hopefully the mall’s visitors not only get discounts but also knowledge about the history of Malang,” Dwi said.
Malang Town Square and the Jakarta Globe are part of Lippo Group.
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