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G-Mart Superstore, Tuaran

New Superstore In Tuaran

On 18th January 2009, the district of Tuaran, welcomed the first G-Mart Superstore in Malaysia. Located some 28km outside of Kota Kinabalu City, this is the first retail outlet of the group. With 9 stores planned to be established by May 2009, this new retail group aims to capture its share of the market wherever it is located.

This is the first G-Mart Superstore in Sabah, and will be used as a benchmark for all the other outlets. We focus on freshness, and seek to maintain a wide merchandise mix to serve the community we are in. How fresh can our food be? The fishes arrive to our store on the same day they are caught, as is the case for our chicken meat and eggs.

I am especially pleased to write a post about this, not only because I am the Store Manager for this outlet, but also because we have made such an impact in the community. The support from the locals in Tuaran has been tremendous, and we have received a lot of positive feedback. In terms of merchandise, price and activities. Yes, we received one friendly comment about how we could improve our fresh department. We took immediate action on that to rectify what might have been a shortcoming.

The Staff Of G-Mart
Many people outside the retail trade has no idea what goes on behind the scenes in preparing a superstore or supermarket for business. We pulled an all night effort to get the store ready to open on 18th January. 80% of our staff are  new to the retail industry, and it has been an intense 2 weeks of training and effort from them. These kids just don’t know how to quit, and boy, do they make me look good! The people of Tuaran should rightly be proud to have such fine young people. Our staff did all we asked of them, and they got the store ready to open on time, on schedule.

Opening Activities
Opening day starts of with a Dragon Dance. The purpose is to put on a show for the people of Tuaran, and having the Dragon visit a new establishment is a sign of good fortune. Traditionally, all businesses open with a Dragon or Lion dance, and fireworks. Especially in retailing, you need to open with a Bang! This represents the success and longevity of the business, as well as never-ending patronage from the community.

Followed by Lion Dances, this is also to welcome good fortune and patronage. The idea being rowdier the lions are, the more bustle there will be in your business. I like the idea of the traditional elements of the store opening. And the crowd always appreciates a good show. Dragon and Lion Dances are traditionally Chinese, but people of all races in Sabah enjoys the show. A large number of the troupe are actually natives, instead of just the Chinese.

As an aside, this store opening has been a particularly tough assignment for me. Not only is this the first G-Mart superstore anywhere in Malaysia, my wife was scheduled to have her operation on the 16th. To complicate matters, she was 4 months pregnant at the time, and I was in the middle of the busiest cycle for the store opening. So I would work till midnight, then stayed overnight at the hospital with my wife. Up until the 18th when my store launched, and she was discharged from the hospital.

All this time, we had not seen our daughter at all. I missed her like crazy, and it killed me whenever I spoke to her on the phone and she asked me to come visit her.

Great Support From Tuaran People
Once again, I would like to thank the people of Tuaran for their tremendous support. We are here to stay, and we intend to be part of the community here. To the our staff who demonstrated their commitment so early in their career, my heartfelt thanks. They Rock!

Visitors to Tuaran should drop by on a Sunday to visit the local Tamu. For those unfamiliar with the term Tamu, this is a traditional market selling local produce and crafts. Traditionally, these markets travel from village to village, and repeat the cycle every 7 days. I have been too busy to photo the market but I will be showing you some interesting sights of Tuaran soon.

Tuaran Fried Noodles
You should try the Tuaran Fried Mee when you come here. I’ve known people who would drive up from Kota Kinabalu just to eat the noodles. The noodles is different from normal noodles, and is made with eggs as the additional ingredient. This gives it a nice and rich texture when fried. I’ve also been trying to find a local coffeeshop that used to sell really affordable steamed fish on their menu. They have moved and I would like to see if they have maintained their prices.

There are also some fine resorts in Tuaran, such as the Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort, which is a beautiful resort with its own orang utan enclosure. Mimpian Jadi Resort is also popular with locals and Asian visitors to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It is a little out of the way, but the scenery is beautiful. Another resort in Tuaran is the Sabandar Bay Resort, although I have never been there. Tang Dynasty has opened the Tang Dynasty Lodge, which in US you would call it a motel.

To the readers of this blog, if you are ever in the area, do drop by for a chat. You can find me in G-Mart most days of the week. Or drop me an e-mail at adrian[dot]sabah @ gmail[dot]com.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 5:03 am and is filed under Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.