Movement Control Order (MCO) 2.0 was started since January 22, 2021 for 2 weeks, which ended on February 4th, 2021 implement on all states in Malaysia except Sarawak. All retailers are closed and they can moved to online or e-commerce. Many Chinese hope the government can end the MCO 2.0 before Chinese New Year (February 12th, 2021). However, the government decided to extended MCO 2.0 for another 2 weeks, which will end on February 18th, 2021 due to the spike of Covid-19 cases. This news definitely is a shocking news for Malaysian especially Chinese.
On February 9th, it is only 3 days before Chinese New Year, I decided to 1 Utama Shopping Centre. The decoration is the mall is wonderful with Chinese New Year theme (Picture above). The crowd is little and most retailers were closed due to the MCO 2.0
When I arrived at AEON which located at 1 Utama old wing, I found that, there is a new way to shop at AEON. Buy online, order and collect. (Picture below) All the apparel stores were closed. There were few staff to assists customers for their order collection. Surely no try out at fitting room.
It is not convenient to place order with this new norm. On that evening, government announced that retailers are allow to open their business as usual with S.O.P. Well it is good news for retailers who were closed business for more than 2 weeks. On the other hand, some retailers also decided to close for Chinese New Year. They are in dilemma.
For me, perhaps it is a time for me to buy a jeans pants for Chinese New Year. This time, all apparel stores at AEON are open, but there is a S.O.P. I need to follow, to have a pair of glove when entering to AEON.
This time, I can see more crowd to buy apparel or shoes, compared with 2 days ago. I got a pant and thought the fitting room might open for try wear. It was not. I used a traditional way to examine whether the size is fit for me; use waist band to surround my neck diameter. If tight, it is not fit. If it is lose a bit, that’s perfect match! Luckily this method able to get me a perfect fit pants.
“Late better than never.”
It was a late announcement by the government to allow retailers to operate as usual, it is better than not allow at all especially during festival season.
Let’s follow the S.O.P. strictly to protect ourselves and others. I hope the pandemic will end soon and allow us to live freely.