Malls are often seen as vibrant, bustling spaces where people go to socialise, shop, eat, and be entertained. But with so many new malls coming up – each bigger and better than the last – what happens to older ones that fail to keep up with the never-ending demands of consumerism? Shoppers go elsewhere, low foot traffic forces tenants to move out, and the mall falls into a gradual state of decay.

Such is the case of Endah Parade in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, once one of the hottest hangout spots in town. Located close to the Bukit Jalil National Stadium and opened just in time for the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the mall spans seven floors of retail shops with over 400 individual lots. Its anchor tenant was French hypermarket Carrefour (no longer in Malaysia), and there were many popular brands here including KFC, McDonalds, and Shakey’s Pizza. There was even a rooftop theme park in the works that featured a giant ship.

Unfortunately, as more malls mushroomed across the Klang Valley and accessiblity improved, Endah Parade struggled to compete. After all, families driving to KL could just as well go to Mid Valley Megamall 15 minutes away – it was newer and had more interesting shops. By the mid-2010s, many of Endah’s tenants had moved out, replaced by seedy massage parlours offering extra services. Even though these too eventually shuttered, it caused a further dip in the mall’s traffic.

Now, we come to the blog’s title – what does Endah Parade have to do with my post going viral on TikTok with over 1 million views?

Well, I have a thing for exploring old malls – not abandoned ones, mind you, I’m not brave enough for URBEX – but just malls with older architecture, that feel like they’ve been left behind by the tides of time.

It so happened that N and I were bored out of our minds one afternoon, and we didn’t want to go to the usual cookie cutter malls, so I suggested we come here. We ended up spending an hour or two just wandering, snapping photos of liminal spaces, empty shoplots and shuttered storefronts.

The 1980s / 90s inspired architecture gave us a profound sense of nostalgia too – N was especially excited by the wide spiral staircase between the escalators that leads all the way from the ground floor to the top – a design feature that modern malls no longer have.

The photos we took had a sad, haunting quality – a stark contrast between how it must have looked like when the mall first opened – so I thought it’d be nice to post them on TikTok.

Lo and behold, the TikTok algorithm picked it up, and there were hundreds of people sharing their own stories in the comments. One recalled memories of coming here as a child with their parents and enjoying Shakey’s as a reward after acing an exam; another reminisced about meeting their partner while working at KFC; buying pirated VCDs at the shops on the ground floor, or getting their first SAGEM phone.

It was nice to read their stories, knowing that we shared a collective nostalgia for times that will never come again. Growing up in the 1990s, a trip to the mall was always an exciting affair, since my parents come from the lower-middle income class and going there was a rare treat.

We’d stroll around, get an ice cream, and have lunch at KFC instead of the usual food court or hawker stall. If we were REALLY lucky, mum would even give us a couple of ringgit to spend at the arcade. All this may sound unfathomably boring for kids today, but you have to remember that this was a time before smart phones and gadgets, and malls were truly the few venues of entertainment we had.

Like many old malls, Endah Parade has long corridors surrounding an atrium, a common design of malls in the 80s/90s. It also has two iconic capsule lifts in seagreen and silver, with glass windows. I love the way they look – there’s so much character in them in comparison to the boring boxes we ride in today. For me, they represent childhood memories where everything was bright and colourful and interesting – my brother and I always rushed in so we can get good spots near the glass window and watch the floors go by. What do we have with modern lifts? An enclosed steel box that gets you from point A to B.

Lifts with retro-coloured doors in mustard yellow, framed by marble slabs.

Bulky old security cameras. Not sure if they’re still functioning. N called them the ‘Big Brother is Watching’ Cameras lol.

Currently, it seems that less than 50% of the shops are occupied. The place was still chugging along somehow in the late 2010s, but I think COVID really hammered the final nail in the coffin.

Notices from the mall’s management and the local authorities are plastered over this empty shoplot, formerly a salon, demanding for the tenant / owner to cough up on late fees.

The saddest ones, for me, are the businesses that didn’t return to clean up properly. Sneaking a peek into this former salon, the inside was littered with assorted boxes of haircare products, a glass counter stuffed with plastic and bottles, and papers strewn about.

The ceiling still had origami fish hanging from them, likely put up for Chinese New Year decorations years ago. You can almost picture how vibrant and lively this place was once, with gossping aunties, perhaps students looking to get a nice, cheap hairdo for their school dance.

A faded sign with Frutiger Metro elements (popular in the mid to late 2000s).

That being said, even though the mall looks quite empty, there are a number of businesses within that help it to stay afloat. There are several tourism agencies here, and although the decor also looks like something out of the 90s, they’re apparently still active.

The most happening spot in Endah Parade would be the bowling alley, which has some of the cheapest rates in the Klang Valley. The design looks dated, but it gives the place a quaint sort of charm, especially with the large wooden counter. We came on a weekday and almost all of the lanes were booked.

Aside from bowling, there are a few recreational spots too, including the Pioneer Badminton Centre, which has indoor badminton courts (it was opened by some of our former national shuttlers), a Rhthym and Gymnastics centre, Celebrity Fitness, and a snooker centre.

Someone suggested in the TikTok post that they should just turn the mall into a one-stop recreational centre with all the different sports – but I think with its current layout, that might be difficult.

You’ll also find some niche stores here, including hobby shops that sell trading cards and host tournaments, a martial arts store, and a few that sell bowling equipment.

PS: Apparently there is a ‘secret’ JPN here on the 5th floor where you can get your IC or passport done quickly, since there’s never a queue.

The ground floor is the liveliest, as this is where the AEON Big Hypermarket and Celebrity Fitness is. If you’re looking for tea and antiques, there’s Laocha Da Tea Culture, and a few shops away is YYG which sells party supplies and costumes.

Endah Parade is in bad need of a revamp, because at the rate it’s going I don’t think it can sustain into the next decade. The problem as I see it is that there are so many individual shoplots: with many of them unoccupied, the mall looks empty, and because people think ‘there’s nothing to do here anyway’, the mall is unable to attract higher footfall.

Some have suggested to take a leaf out of what some developers are doing in the US, and turn it into a residential building – but I think this is, again, a tall order since it would be complicated / involve a lot of red tape, and developers would probably rather build new malls than invest in a dying one.

For me, Endah Parade represents a memory of the past. Such places will gradually be swallowed up by the tides of time and for some, live on only in memory (I was trying to look for old photos of the mall but couldn’t find many online). Hopefully, by capturing these photos, I can at least preserve some of these moments on film.

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