So , where's the party in Penang ?

By Sheridan Mahavera

PENANG, March 25 — Happy hour is mostly dead in Penang. That is right.

Except for a few watering holes, that after-office time when booze is cheap does not draw a big crowd, according to bar owner Howie Tan.

The ones that are packed are decades-old places with a loyal clientele and the ones with gimmicks like free food with the first drink.

Penang does, however, have probably the only legal, tastefully-done cabaret show in the country. At the very least, it is probably the only one north of the Klang valley and it usually gets a good audience even on weekdays.

Another aspect of Penang’s nightlife that a Klang Valley-ite will notice is that, on weekends, even its most riotous clubs and bars are still empty by 10pm.

And then, at 10.45pm or so, it is as though a school bell goes off somewhere and everyone just shows up all at once. By 11pm, it is standing room only in most places and everyone seems already drunk.

The explanation behind this pattern is linked, in a way, to that oft-repeated cliché that Penangnites are cheap-skates.

It may also explain why despite its reputation of being able to draw people from Northern Perak, Kedah and Perlis every weekend, there is a limit to how big a nightlife Penang can have.

This limitation may also be apparent in the state’s retail industry where some shop owners say that, as big a draw as the Pearl of the Orient is, it still struggles to find a big enough market for its lustre.

AND YOU THOUGHT IT’S A CITY

Despite the downturn, flea bazaars like this one in Gurney Plaza still do brisk business on weekends.

Outside of the Klang Valley, there are no worse daily traffic jams than the ones at the Johor Baru-Singapore checkpoint/Causeway and the Penang Bridge all the way into Georgetown.

But even then, Penangites do not seem bothered by them, declaring that these jams only last an unbelievable “20 minutes” at the most. It has to do with how the Penang bumper-to-bumper crawl differs from the Klang Valley version.

It is “15 minutes” for a Penangite living on the island because that is roughly the distance between where they stay and wherever it is they are going. So any traffic jam does not “last” because everything is so close. Unless, of course, you are going from the island to the mainland, which can take two hours during rush hour.

"Penang is an island, don’t mistake that,” declares Tan, the owner-manager of the Soi 11 bar on a strip called Upper Penang Road.

Though it has all the characteristics of a bustling metropolis — huge population, high gross domestic product — Penang is not officially one.

Even when other capitals in far less developed states were falling over themselves to announce that they had reached city-status, Penang gracefully turned its face away and went back to surpassing those other “cities” in every way.

When Alor Star declared itself a city about six years ago, I asked a Penang politician if the state did not feel a little envious and why it had not done so with Georgetown.



After all, Georgetown would easily fulfil all the requirements and all it had to do was get approval from the federal government.

“Why should we? It just makes everything a lot more expensive for no reason. Assessment rates and utilities would have to go up, then food and other goods would go up. We’re doing well as it is, we don’t need ‘city-status’”.

This, then, is the correlation: Penang is not a city as far as official records are concerned yet it parties, earns money and behaves like one.

It is a de facto city yet, as a senior politician says, you can go from the heritage zone to the jungle in 15 minutes and a meal can still be had for less than RM5.

“This is why they say Penangites are cheapskates,” says Datuk Lee Kah Choon of investPenang, a state government investment agency.

Since Penang has been virtually a metropolis for decades, Penangites have come to expect big city-grade services and goods at non-city prices.

But all this is going to change soon as Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced on Jan 10 that the state is applying for Georgetown city status.

“Hand phone trader Yeah says Penangites tend to be fussy shoppers who survey prices at many different stores before making a decision.

BIG, CHEAP AND GOOD”

Being convenient to get around may be good for consumers but it can be nerve-wracking for a retailer.

Yeap CH operates a small handphone store on Penang island’s latest spanking mall, Queensbay, near the Penang Bridge.

“Klang Valley shoppers are impulsive and they are not as picky like Penangites. Once they see something they like at a store, the price is reasonable, they buy it.

“Penangites would scrutinise every detail and compare your prices to other stores in different malls,” says Yeah.

Since malls are roughly 20 minutes from each other, it is easy to run from one to another to compare goods and prices. In the Klang Valley, finding a parking spot itself takes 20 minutes.

Another computer parts dealer says this attitude, coupled with the economic slowdown, has dampened sales.

“You have to really persuade them and give them discounts. They also tend to wait for the PC Fair to shop,” says Digital Bay branch manager Kok Ping.

Not everyone is complaining though. Wholesaler BK Yeoh says sales in the state has been picking up compared to several months ago though, interestingly, his orders from KL have dropped by 20 per cent.

“As Penang is known as a shopping destination in the northern region, sales has improved compared to last year. I get a good mix of locals and foreigners,” says Yeoh, who has a stall in the Gurney Plaza flee market.

Though it may appear thriving, Penang’s retail sector, they all agreed, was small compared to the Klang Valley’s. Competition is tough and though residents may look wealthy, their spending power is low.

Some retailers, like the NM Mohamed Ismail jewellery store in Jalan Kapitan Keling, venture to look for customers outside Penang.

“I have customers who invite me over to Kuala Lumpur. I visit their families and friends to show them our stones and custom jewellery,” says store owner Nurjahan Mohamed Ismail.

“Sales are not like before. Nowadays even the Mat Salleh are watching how much they spend. They come in, look around and then leave without buying anything,” she says.

“WHERE EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NAME”

Trincy Low’s Boom Boom Chambre is perhaps the only place in Penang that features tasteful cabaret shows.

When Trincy Low started Boom Boom Chambre, she did it not just because she wanted to open a unique club in Upper Penang Road’s (UPR) trendy nightlife district; it was to also help out her friends.

“My friends used to put on cabaret shows at company annual dinners but since the recession, they stopped hiring performers. The public can’t really see these shows anywhere, so I decided why not put them on at my club?”

“Business has been surprisingly good. We get a crowd on Mondays, Tuesdays, Ladies Night is surprisingly slow and then it picks up again on the weekends.”

The strategy has differentiated Boom Boom Chambre from the six other clubs in the UPR — a district fashioned out of a row of pre-War shop houses that have been converted into bars and clubs.

Tan of Soi 11 muses that the UPR was the inspiration behind KL’s Asian Heritage Row. “It’s possible because the guy who started UPR is friends with the guy who did Asian Heritage Row.”

The UPR, says Tan, has structured and rejuvenated Penang’s night-life. It has brought together bar and club operators in one spot where the revelry can be monitored by the authorities.

Being on Penang road, which is inside the heritage buffer zone and close to hotels, provides the operators with a steady stream of customers all year round.

“In the past, clubs and pubs were scattered everywhere, which is why they will open for three years and then close down. Here, we have the locals and the foreigners who walk out from their hotels,” says Tan.

Next to Soi 11 is the famous Slippery Senoritas. A lynchpin in the island’s clubbing scene, and according to manager Jack Wee, the catalyst for the five other clubs around it.

“We brought the party scene from Batu Ferringi down to Georgetown in 2001. We were the first to have salsa dancing and the first tapas restaurant.”

When it peaks at about 1am, the nightlife in UPR may look like another weekend in Jalan Sultan Ismail or the Asian Heritage Row. Yet the customer base is small.

“Almost half of our customers are regulars,” says Wee. The club has opened a new branch in Juru Autocity to lock in party goers from the mainland.

“In the end any club you go to, you will find people you know,” says Soi 11’s Tan.

That is a good thing for customers but not so good for the clubs who have to compete for the same clientele.

Though it will officially be a city soon, Georgetown may continue to struggle for the people to fill its bars and shops as its young and brightest, who would typically fill this role, get siphoned off to the Klang Valley, Singapore and Australia.