Facelift at the Old Stomping Grounds

Took some time out on Sunday for myself to check out the recent changes at Sunway Pyramid. Having just recovered from a particularly embarrassing affliction that plagued me this past week, I was more than looking forward to get out of the house and enjoy some “me” time before I had to start work again on Monday. Of course being a weekend, my first stop was the newly renovated TGV cinemas for the latest Harry Potter film.

I’ve always loved going to the cinemas at Sunway Pyramid. Being so close to my apartment, I have no trouble getting there on time to catch the early bird ticket specials which means that I only pay RM 8 for the usual RM 11 tickets for the first showings of the day. Online booking also meant that I just need to walk up to the booking counters to collect my tickets. So when they close most of the cinemas for renovations a few months ago, I was fairly disappointed. For one it meant that I had to go elsewhere less convenient for my movie fix.

Having had to give away my free tickets to the Harry Potter movie on last Thursday because of my delicate affliction, I decided to take the chance and see if the renovations to the cinema at Sunway Pyramid were completed. I wasn’t so sure about what to expect but since they were taking online bookings for the tickets, I assumed that the cinema halls were at least in somewhat usable conditions. When I arrived at the cinema, the first difference that I noticed was that I had to take the escalators up 1 more floor than before to get to the ticket office.

The old ticket office had a higher ceiling compared to the new one. Coupled with the low lighting in the place, the new cinema lobby did feel slightly claustrophobic. I also missed the big screens that showed the movie trailers which they had before. The smaller screens that they have now were just placed too far off from where people were queuing to watch while they waited their turn to buy their tickets. I did, however, appreciate the new ticket office displays that were set right in front of the customer because it made it easier to select the seats you want. TGV Sunway also now offer Couple’s Seats which I found to be hilarious since I have just recently learnt that they existed at all. Just goes to show that I normally watch movies by myself and even if I went with someone else, snuggling during a movie might be too distracting. Of course, if it were with the right person …

They had 12 cinema halls at the newly renovated TGV Sunway but I’m not too sure if all were opened now. The one I went to was cinema hall 3 which was a medium size hall with stadium style seating much like the one they have in the Cathy Cineleisure cinema at Damansara. One advantage of this new setup is that practically everyone had a clear view of the screen without have someone’s head block the view. The row I was in, for example, had almost an eye level view of the screen which made the movie experience more enjoyable. I did wished that they had slightly higher backed seating as the one that they have now were a bit low for people like me who like to scoot lower into the seat when we are watching the movie. There were ample leg room but the thought of being that close to someone’s feet due to the steep incline of the seating was a bit disconcerting. All in all, I liked what they did with the TGV renovation and happy to come back again to my old stomping grounds for my movie fix.

After the movie, I decided to check out the newly reopened Parkson Grand departmental store at Sunway. They just reopened last weekend after being closed for renovation and I was in the market for some new work clothes so I decided to check them out. I don’t know if this was a new direction from Parkson but they decided to go more upmarket when they renovated the place. The new Sunway Parkson Grand looked almost the same at the one they had in Subang Parade and KLCC. The merchandise that they carried were equally on the more upmarket side. Gone were the RM 69.90 selections what made up almost all my work clothes wardrobe and instead they were selling branded dress shirts made out of Egyptian cotton at RM 250 per piece. Personally if I had to pay that amount of money for a shirt, I would rather have it tailored made and double stitched by a personal tailor.

I don’t know if it’s just me but what is the deal with stripes on a business dress shirt? What happened to wearing just one color for a dress shirt? Am I that behind in terms of fashion? It seemed that the store only had white shirts with colored horizontal stripes in a multitude of strip width. I have been wearing stripes only on casual shirts for as long as I can remember so the thought of wearing them as a business dress shirt was a bit hard to warp around my head. I left the men’s department feeling fully bewildered by the changes and the realization that I may not shop there any more since their merchandise was not what I am accustomed to. I’ve got to find somewhere else to buy my solid colored dress shirts from.

The California Fitness gym at Sunway was still under construction but according to the staff at the sign up booth, it should be opened to members sometime next month. Of all the facelifts at Sunway Pyramid, that would be the one I’m looking forward to most.