Grand Baie La Croisette: my first visit…

Yesterday, we went for a night tour at the new shopping mall of Grand Baie, La Croisette. After my post on Bagatelle and about things which make a mall popular,  here’s my review of the Grand Baie La Croisette mall, on the very first visit.

Uncompleted

With the opening scheduled for the end of October, La Croisette team made head and tail their maximum to stick to their announced opening date. That’s probably their first error. Even after the opening, construction is still going on practically everywhere, whether inside or around the mall.

Take this ‘thing’ for instance. I don’t even know if it is an abstract art or it is still being built.

One thing for sure, it was badly presented to the public, right at the entrance of the first floor, when you are coming from the parking (ground floor).

I do not have exact figures but probably more than 50% of shops have not yet opened their doors. At 8pm yesterday, the mall was like a busy bee-hive.

Security

Secondly, there’s a big lack of proper road infrastructure. As I drove around the mall, I felt insecure at the sight of materials used for road warnings literally ‘scattered’ around and on top of that, no proper lightning.

There are lifts but none are operational yet. What if some kids run into them???

The food court

In a previous post, I wrote about the importance of the food court. The one in this new shopping mall is tiny! I personally felt suffocated when passing by while visiting.  Once again, there was a big lack of proper lighting in this area.

In front of food court:

The food court itself:

Disgusting view of the ground floor, just besides the food court (first floor):

 The mall

Coming to the mall itself, I found the idea behind the infrastructure different: The parking areas were outside the mall and occupied the whole of the ground floor while all shops, restaurants and the cinemas were on the first floor (and above). The squared lighting spots with changing colors are pleasing but I found that the water fountains now form part of a cliché of the malls of the island.

But however, with the major interests of the mall being built on the first floor, you can only see concrete practically everywhere, except for the trees… I wished to see more green areas, closely integrated within the mall area.

The parking

And now, a few pictures of the parking on the ground floor :

Did you know?

These parking slots will be paying as from December. From what I learnt, only parking on the mall outside will be free.

Good things in there?

Some people do tell me that I’m always criticizing. I’m not to be blamed if I always come across those things which leave me thinking what could possibly have gone wrong and how they could have been improved. Anyway, here’s a few good things about the mall:

– New shops and restaurants in the north (For example, Ocean Basket and WoolWorths)

It seems that prices at WoolWorths La Croisette are better than those at Bagatelle. Can anyone please confirm?

– New hypermarkets (La Croisette -> Intermart and very soon, Pick n Pay, some 100m from the new mall)

– Star Cinemas, now in the north.

You have been warned!

These signs can be seen at the entrance of each of the “building blocks”(or sections) of the mall.

They are clear about it :

• No Point and Shoot cameras.
• Stig can’t enter the mall.

The verdict.

Crappy uncompleted mall.

If you can’t deliver something on time, simply don’t open it to the public. Remember, you never get a second chance to give a first impression and IMHO, whenever I think of Grand Baie La Croisette, the pictures of the crappy and uncompleted mall will come to my mind. And I still can’t understand the logic behind banning only point and shoot cameras. So, only rich ones with big dslrs and good camera phones can shoot pictures, right?

Who wants to share some words about their visit there???