When a shopping mall struggles, most people immediately assume it is because of poor management. People usually blame weak marketing, poor maintenance, declining tenants, unrealistic rental rates, low activity levels, or management teams failing to keep the mall attractive and relevant.
After all, if a mall is located in a strategic area but still cannot attract crowds, surely somebody must be making the wrong decisions.
But according to feng shui practitioner Alan Chong, things are not always that straightforward.
Sometimes, he believes, the problem may not only be management itself, but the feng shui of the property.
Poor Management Is Usually Related To Human Factors
“Poor management is usually related to the human factor and operational weaknesses,” Alan explained during an interview.
According to him, this can include poor maintenance, weak marketing strategies, low activity levels in the mall, unrealistic policies, or management teams failing to execute properly.
However, Alan believes some problems may also have an underlying feng shui factor.
“Energy creates results,” he said.
“When you have a poor feng shui mall, usually you will also attract non-performing people into the management team.”
According to Alan, this may eventually lead to weak execution, ineffective decisions, poor management quality, and declining overall performance.
Why Some Malls Still Struggle Despite Heavy Marketing
Alan explained that a poor feng shui mall is often easier to identify because the management may actually be working very hard, but the results simply do not materialise.
One example he pointed to was LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre.
Since opening in 2022, the mall has continuously introduced different initiatives to attract visitors. Located in the strategic Bukit Bintang area, the mall also benefits from monorail access, LRT connectivity, influencer campaigns, Japanese anime promotions, outdoor activities, and collaborations with Mitsui Outlet Park. It was also later linked to the KL-Singapore bus hub initiative announced by Anthony Loke.
Despite all these efforts, Alan believes the mall still struggles to generate strong and sustainable footfall.
“This is a very typical example of people who try very hard,” he said.
“They do a lot of marketing. They get influencers in. But the result is just not there.”
According to him, this is what he considers a classical example of bad feng shui.
“Very enthusiastic, very hardworking staff, marketing team, management, but the result just cannot come out,” he added.
“A lot of activities, a lot of money pumped into getting influencers, but they cannot produce the desired result.”
Poor Management And Poor Feng Shui Often Look Different
According to Alan, poor management usually becomes visible gradually over time.
A mall may slowly deteriorate because of poor maintenance, weak tenant management, declining facilities, operational neglect, or excessive rental fees.
In these situations, the problems are more directly connected to management quality and operational failures.
However, Alan believes poor feng shui often looks different.
In these cases, the team may actually appear proactive, hardworking, and willing to spend heavily on upgrades and promotions, yet the business energy and crowd movement still fail to stabilise.
Alan also cited The 19 USJ City Mall, Quill City Mall, and Summit USJ as examples often discussed in feng shui conversations.
In the case of Summit USJ, he pointed out that major investments had reportedly been made over the years to upgrade the mall’s facilities and appearance.
Yet despite the upgrades, the footfall reportedly still did not improve significantly.
“They corrected everything, but they did not correct the feng shui factor,” Alan said.
For more info on Alan Chong’s practice, visit Feng Shui Mechanics.
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