Remain of Super Kinta Signboard

Super Kinta Departmental Stores, a name that almost none of Ipoh citizen do not know. People normally call it Super Kinta or in Cantonese "Kan Ta" (近打) by only mention the word Kinta. This departmental store is a member of George Town Holdings which ran another retailing business in Penang, the well-known Super Komtar. If I remember correctly, Super Kinta started business in 1983, located at 2nd & 3rd floor of Ipoh Central Market, which is a square-O-shape building. Although as mentioned above it occupied 2 floors, but it appeared to be single floor under one ceiling. Therefore, the whole departmental store looked spacious & tall. This had made it significantly different from other supermarkets at that time, such as Angel's, Crescendo, Perak Emporium & Beauty that operated in multi-floor but narrow building. As a result, one after another of these supermarkets closed down in the competition.

However, as the Chinese say, fortune is always taking turns (风水轮流转). After more than two decades of glorious era, Super Kinta finally faced its fatal challenge from the modern shopping malls, Ipoh Parade & Kinta City, during the end of 1990's. Apart from departmental store, the new malls provide more choices for shopping & entertainment, such as fashion outlets, cinemas, bowling center, restaurants, etc. Even Super Kinta practiced major interior renovation at interval of few years to keep it up to date, the building had limited its transformation to stay on par with latest trend & new customer expectations. Finally, Super Kinta ends its chapter around 2004. Since then we hardly see its name & logo appear in public, and after so many years close down, we even difficult to find its plastic bag nowadays. To my surprise, the alley I used to pass by frequently but I never realize that there is one last signboard of Super Kinta which shows the way to its main entrance still pinned on the wall of Ipoh Central Market building. I believe this logo has been faded away from many of our mind and hope these photos could help recall some of our memories about this legendary departmental store in Ipoh. About this logo, I find it to be apparently a symbolic presentation of the location of its sister store in Penang, the Komtar Tower, which also experience the similar fate of closing down.