Over the weekend, my bro and I headed to the newly-opened Boulevard at 4th mile, Kuching…He’d been there a few times, but it was my 1st. (I was in Brunei when it opened.)
This is the 2nd Boulevard (Mall?) in Sarawak…The 1st being in Miri. (The one in Imperial Mall not counted as a Boulevard Mall as that’s just the supermarket.) That one has been open for a few years now. It is known for its HUGE brick-red coloured building and extensive carpark. The main tenant is, of course, Boulevard hypermarket. I don’t actually know what the attraction at Boulevard is…but it is always packed, plus the Bruneians who come to Miri to do their shopping. Now this 2nd Boulevard is an attraction too…and like its Miri predecessesor, I also don’t know why…maybe someone can enlighten me?
This 2nd Boulevard is a 6-storey building…the bottom 2 basement storeys are carparks (which designs for floor layout reminds me of One Utama), which leaves 4 storeys of shophouses. (For the sake of discussion, I will refer to the shophouses floors as 1st(which is also basement level), 2nd, 3rd and 4th from bottom to top.)
This is the view from the 4th floor over-looking 2nd and 3rd floor.
Boulevard Hypermarket is the main tenant (of course) which the biggest floor space on each storey. On the 1st floor(basement) is the supermarket and electrical goods etc, 2nd – ladies wear, 3rd – men’s wear, 4th – kid’s wear.
Apart from the Boulevard hypermarket, other tenants are as follows:-
1st (basement) - food court (still under construction)
2nd - Guardian, Kenny Rogers, …
Sushi King
Pizza Hut-to-be
KFC to-be
3rd & 4th - Popular, some clothes shop, hair salon
Yeah…not all the construction is finished yet…and since only 2 eateries were “open for business” we opted for
Now, I have never eaten at Kenny Rogers before this. There used to be one at Sarawak Plaza last time, but the price made it “exclusive”-like and not many people frequent it so they closed down shop. Strangely here, people were queueing for places in the restaurant and queueing for take-aways! It’s either because there was only Kenny Rogers or Sushi King to choose from, or the standard of the locals here have significantly increased!
Anyways, we had the signature roasted chicken…
1/4 chicken with original sauce, 3 self-chosen side dishes of macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy and savoury rice…and also its famous muffin as appetizer (not in picture)
The price: Less than RM20.
The verdict: Delicious! 
If you noticed, the pic above was taken AFTER I took a slice off the chicken…It was so tempting that I only remembered I wanted to take a pic of it AFTER I had already “dugged in”. LOL.
And then later, after we left the restaurant I noticed this beside it:-
“Hungry for a Roaster?” – playing at the words as in Kenny Rogers “Roaster”s? Hmm…
So anyways, after browsing around a lil while, it was already 10pm and the shops were closing…so we headed down to the basement carpark and I noticed this on the way:
A family of mannequinns? Nice…
Some teenagers even tried on the wigs and took pics of themselves before putting the wig back on the mannequinns…haha…kids.
And so we got to the basement carpark and what a sight and sound to greet us!
Cars were in an endless queue and horns were blazing! JAM!!!
We didn’t wanna stress ourselves in the queue so we just waited in our parked car till the queue was moving.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
We were among the last to leave the building THIRTY minutes later!
Horrible! Insufficient and inconvenient parking…Terrible jam both leaving the building as well as approaching it…GOSH! Maybe it won’t be so jammed when the Boulevard is old news and not everyone wants to go there anymore? But you think that will happen? Seeing as Miri’s Boulevard is still buzzing with people whenever I’m there, I sincerely doubt that! At least in Miri, the extensive carpark and (I guess) the strategic location of the building itself meant that there is no horrible jam like the one here…
JAM…JAM…JAM…
…and Boulevard is still an attraction. I do not understand why…
P.S. - Boulevard is pronounced Boo-le-vard…that’s vard with an “A” and not an “E”.
OMG.. HAHA.. You know what, in fact, I also going to write about “Fu Li Hua” too but sadly I kinda lazy and I wait till the Spring open this thurs. I went there on the first day le. =,=!!!
Btw, have you go in to that “Heng Ten” at Boulevard there? I think should be at second floor. Expensive le the clothes. Yea, i use wordpress engine in my webhost. Lately I think my current theme cause the slow loading problem. Goin’ develop my own theme soon. But… again.. Lazy.. xD
looks like penang bukit jambul to me. good to know that kuching is not dead like it used to be (after 7pm).
Yesterday i been to Boulevard, yes it is the new place for kuching people to go :p
lol
yay new place to go.. exciting for kuching-lang..
being a pj person, am really spoilt for having so many place to hang out.. hehe..
VC,
1st day huh? Sure human traffic jam…even when I went there (of course not 1st day) also human traffic jam. Man! Yea,wait till The Spring open…10th Jan, a public hol…sure the human traffic even worst! I really don’t like packed places….suffocating!
Nope…didn’t go into the clothes shop, just see2 from outside only. But I’ve been to Hang Ten before (in Sjung)..standard price la…I have a few Hang Tens hanging in my wardrobe…but if got offer, got cheap one.
Cool to have ur own domain huh? But I’m not good with the programming and design stuff so I’d rather use wordpress free blog…haha…
NoktahHitam,
Yes…Kuching is not dead. Actually, I never knew it was ever dead since I’ve only recently “settled” in Kuching. LOL. Thanks for dropping by yeah! Come again!
GenesisCEO,
Yea…that and theSpring…hehe. Thanks for dropping by!
Drumsticks,
haha…yeah, we yuppies spoilt about places to lepak. So when you coming to lepak in Kuching huh?
good to know that kuching is not dead like it used to be (after 7pm).
Haha.. not dead actually but most of people prefer to spend their life-after-work at home.. the same thing happened in Miri.. Life in Kuching or in Miri is different compare to KL.. Less crowded and most of us are the family-clingy-type of people.. Ahaha.. I have no words to describe it.. Hentam saja la.. =P
The food looks good but I am not really into KR. But I am okay with the food.. Just okay. =)
How big is the new Boulevard? Like Mid Valley?
Nono…you from Sarawak kah? Haha…I thought you were from the Peninsular.
As for people here prefering to spend life-after-work at home, I think that is changing…Night life in Kch is pretty active now…but I’m sure there’s still those who prefer to stay home. Hehe…
How big is Boulevard? SMALL if you compare it with malls in KL. Boulevard Miri is bigger…I cant wait for The Spring to open tomorrow…now that’s BIG!
I missed KL ……….
hmmm..wat to say..i havent have time to go and see ” Boulevards” avery people around me keep on chit chat about Boulevards.. sure it nice place yahhhh!!!
Saddix, it’s…ok lah…now that theSpring is open – now THAT is REALLY REALLY NICE! Hehe…
Thanks for dropping by yeah! Come again!
[...] I’m telling you…Nowadays, Kuching people have deep pockets when it comes to food. [...]
no matter how much u all criticise about boulevard..have u ever stop and think actually they are creating job for pple here. don’t u think the owner are doing good by spending money to build complexes here instead of investing in other country? spring or boulevard they are giving job to pple in sarawak….if want to be a good blogger…don’t assume…go the right source and talk to them..then u can pass the right comment..both shopping all serve different market.
get the fact right before passing comment…
(comment moved from http://marg.wordpress.com/about/)
Helloo…Mar..I think u r very negative person! Do you know with Spring and Boulevard opening in Sarawak creating more job for local pple….not only that..Boulevard might not be as perfect as Spring but at least the local tycoon are willing to spend money to build up the market in Kch. U r not in their positon and yes..is so easy for you to pass comment…without going to talk to Boulevard Mgt. Think first before passing judgement ….
Duh Mar, I thought you know.
Wooo vivi, you sounds serious. Chill dude!
I cannot 100-ly agree with your comment tho! I dont think that investing money in other country is a waste… Cus investing itself can be interpreted as allocating certain amount of money for some kind of activities that will bring profits to you… And that profit, isnt a waste..
=)
Vivi aka Fiona,
Firstly, thank you for your comments. I must say I find it surprising that I seemed to have offended you in some way.
For one thing, I do not feel that we (me and my previous commentators) have been critical of Boulevard at all. I was merely comparing it to Boulevard Miri and just stating my personal opinion of what I thought about the new mall…and of course bitching about the jam (who doesn’t bitch about that?)…and the commentators too were expressing theirs.
And being a personal opinion, I don’t have to “talk to the right source” because I am not stating facts or figures but MY OWN OPINION…as are you…who did YOU “talk to” before you came up with your comments here?
Also, where did I ever imply that “building complexes here” was a bad thing? Where have I ever stated that the Boulevard being here was a bad thing or otherwise? I agree with you that its opens up job opportunities – but what does this have to do with my post? Your comment appears to be way off-course…You are reading things is this post that are not even there!
And what is this crap about being a good blogger? Bloggers write what they write, what they feel, the way they see things…what makes them good/bad is purely based on how their readers can relate to them. It is a purely personal opinion on the part of the reader. Some may agree with them, others may not. Some may even define a good blogger as a person who can encourage discussions/spark debates on what they write.
Whether I am a good blogger or not, that is not something you should be concerned with. If you agree with what I write, fine. If you don’t agree, fine. I appreciate all the comments I get. But if you really feel so strongly about this I suggest you get your own blog and write YOUR OWN OPINION there since I do not appreciate the character assasination and accusations. If you have your opinion, yes, share it. Just don’t judge me as a negative person based on a post you don’t agree with. You don’t even know me. Don’t you think that’s way out of your league to be passing judgement?
And all this just because I’m singing praises on tHeSpring and not on Boulevard? Your reaction is suspicously strong…siapa makan cili dia rasa pedas lah.
Nono,
Know what? The pronounciation of Boulevard kah? Ohh..I know. I’m just telling cos some people don’t.
mirian say it’s bu-le-vert … cis. They laugh at me when I say it in the correct way of saying it. KNN
Hahaha…ya lah. My colleague here when I ask her:
Me: “You already go BoulevArd?”
Her: “Huh?”
Me: “You already go BoulevArd?”
Her: “Huh?”
Me: “BoulevArd?”
Her: “BoulevErd? Not yet.”
Me: “It’s pronounced Boulevard with an “A” not “E” you know…heard of the song by Green Day?”
…and I sang to her Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Heh.
huhu cantik nyeee…/
I just came back from overseas and for me, yes def Spring is really nice..just that I just want to say at least, in Sarawak esp Kch finally have 2 big mall…..Sarawakian should be gratefully we have them….if u been to really poor countries then wat kch have is really wonderful. Just got carry away after seeing how other poor countries….they have nothing to COMPARE WITH…no such mall to go. I am sure many malls are coming up…at least pple here have more job opp and increase the standard of living..of course pple have to work harder to spend on good food and such and to meet the standard living…not only tat family will have weekend to go to or window shopping … NO HARD FEELING…just glad to see Kch are booming finally……..anyhow..I m out of here forever..sayanora.
Fazrulz,
A’ah…MEMANG cantik…tapi tHeSpring LAGI cantik!
Welcome to my blog! Thanks for dropping by! Come again yea…
Vivi,
Of course we Sarawakians are grateful we have them. Why wouldn’t we be?
Out of here forever?…I have nothing to say about that… I encourage anyone and everyone to drop by, whether they remain or move on, it’s all up to them. I just wanna say that whatever happens/happened (maybe we started on the wrong foot) it was nice to have/have had each and everyone of you here.
yaya.. strongly agree.. dunno y there owex jam de.. sienz dao ban shi.. =.=”‘ the carpark also design not very convenient .. quite messy lol… first and fews times been there i still can’t really regconise the carpark dirention… really make ppl hin hin de..
[...] 2008 has been pretty…“adventurous”…especially when it comes to shopping (Boulevard, tHeSpring…) and food. And ESPECIALLY so because I have a secret [...]
I really love Kuching, I have been here 3 times already…..
I think that too many shopping mall will lead to more traffic jam….
Prefer KCH to have only mild development so that it will not lost its natural charm & uniqueness….
KCH authority please maintain your city natural charm……No No No to massive development especially in shopping complex development!
victor,
Thanks for dropping by…
Hahaha…yea, the carpark quite confusing. Even just to get to the carpark I think like have to go around the whole building…
CATZ,
I guess more shopping malls will lead to more traffic jams…but not if the mall is properly situated in an area where there are several ways to access the mall. It would also help if they had extensive parking and convenient access to/from its parking lot.
Kch still has its natural charm & uniqueness…mostly around Santubong there…I don’t think it’s endangered by the development since Sarawak itself is known for its “green-ness”, if you get what I mean.
I’m really happy you love Kuching…So you’re a visitor to Kuching?
Drumsticks,
haha…yeah, we yuppies spoilt about places to lepak. So when you coming to lepak in Kuching huh?
hehe.. dunno yet.. must do some planning for it
Haha…plan ahead then…
[...] March 21, 2008 by mar Boulevard Kuching vs. tHeSpring [...]
eh, Boulevard Kuching is smaller than the one in Miri? Hehe I spent about an hour in Boulevard Miri and wondered where to go next haha… I must go to the Spring when I get to visit Kuching someday
I wanted to go with my parents to Kuching 2 weeks ago, but they went with their friends – too big of a crowd, so I thought next time
Missed the Rainforest Festival trip they did last year too … Next time they’re going, I’m going along with them! Hehe.. Or I could just follow my cousin who partially grew up there when he goes and visit his foster father. 
Yea…smaller…I didn’t measure it or anthing but I feel its smaller than the Miri one…
You must definitely visit tHeSpring if you come to Kch…and get those MilkyWays! Haha…
Next RWMF is this July! Come come…sure have fun! I did write about it…
http://marg.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/rwmf-2008/
I don’t know if I can take anymore leave in July since I’ll be taking a few days off in June to go to Jakarta
My cousin said it’s the best place for shopping by the way … and I might be taking more leave in October if all goes well… a good friend of mine wants to sponsor my trip to NYC, I wrote about it a few days back hehe … but if the timing is right, I might be going to the RWMF too… 
Wah…plan to take so many leave hor? Good luck!
Yea, I read about that NYC trip…so jeles u got sum1 sponsor ur trip to NYC ler…can I come? Haha…
haha sure can, mar.. but sendiri bayar ler … LOL..
that’s my bestfriend back in high school, we’re practically like sisters.. but we haven’t seen each other in 10 years, so can only say good friend now hehe… still keeping my fingers crossed!
Sendiri bayar I tak mampu ler…huhu…sedih2…all d best to you though…
Hope one day my bestfriend rich enough to sponsor my trip somewhere…now she go cuti2 in China woo…
just recently i visited kch, In kch i visited The Spring, yeah it wide/big but not many people around and things there are too expensive so i just wonder around than not long i came out from there and look for taxi to visit Boulevard, kch, well at least i see some shoppers do their shopping at the hypermarket and i go around, nothing much to see the building is narrow and not wide. I think transportation there is hard to get unless u got ur own transport. Like Boulevard Miri, u still can have bus transport nearby and also the building is located with many other shops around and also many parking space so you will see full pack of people around.
Bintang Plaza, miri is also full of people around, and its building is doing another extension and could be the biggest shopping arcade in near future….
)
zhan,
Welcome to Perfect Imperfections!
Yes, tHeSpring is a bit towards the higher-end crowd with the branded shops etc…but for the not-so-well-endowed, it’s great place to just hang around and window shop! LOL. And Boulevard would be the exact opposite, not much of a hang out place but the things there are cheaper…
Transportation I can’t really say because I don’t use public transport here in Kch or when in Miri, but I guess it is difficult to get around here without own transport…and I agree with Boulevard Miri having ample parking space! Definitely a PLUS compared to the Boulevard here.
Bintang Plaza, not as happening as Boulevard (personal opinion) as it doesn’t have much shops…but you’re saying they’re extending? Hope the tenants provide a variety of stuff then that would be cool.
So, I am guessing you’re a Miri-ian? 
i only can say…our sarawakian not really know how to make bisness based on long term way.
u c..last time no new mall come out. only last yr…2 new malls suddenly come out. no proper marketing planning…instead kch ppl also not that many ma….
u c la…this two malls not really interesting, i mean the tenant for the brand all can c in sarawak. not to say all the high level brand. even the middle level brand also not keen to open in sarawak…such as…topshop, A/X, DKNY, TOMMY, CK…
the only brand that i feel satisfy is “Padini Concept Store”. luckily we got in sarawak..but some of my frds say the products is not news as KL one…not sure about it..
Guess when open at Springs??so slow sarawak ppl open shop…only small mall also canot fulfill the spaces..
thats why…e best shopping place in malaysia is KL…from high class shopping experience (KLCC,Pavillion) to cheapskate taste (sg wang).lots of choices…really shopping paradise…
BOBO,
Hahaha…well, at least now more places to hang in Kch. The Green Heights Mall opened today…haha…
Thanks for dropping by! Come again ya…
hi mar
im not mirian, im orang bintulu
, i usually likes to travel around sarawak whether a small town or a big town i usually like to visit. I cant compare bintulu with kuching and miri cos bintulu just started to grow and populations are still small.
Yeah Miri Bintang Plaza has crowded of peoples and cars, the reason is in that building have a lots of entertainment e.g cineplex, bowling centre, internet cafe, few fast foods, food courts area, parkson grand is there too plus other shops..
I hope, The Spring and Boulevard Kuching, the government will provide a taxi and a bus stand for easy excess for those people who visited kuching.
zhan,
Welcome back.
Actually, there are taxis and bus stand at tHeSpring.
Boulevard has a bus-stand too.
Bintulu…cool. I’ve never really hung around Bintulu so I’ve no idea how it’s like…maybe one day…hehe
biasa-biasa je,x da yang menarik pun!
Everyone has their own opinion. Welcome to PIMP.
i go to that shopping, i love that places, and i go to the food court, i love that chicken rice, so nice!!!
What’s not to love about the chicken rice?
Welcome to PIMP.
But i think spring and boulevard is still small compare to Macy’s. I think Mr Ting (the globleupline should bring Macy’s here) We want macy’s, dont we.. lolz
Mar: Sure! Nvr been to a Macy’s b4.
Welcome to PIMP!