WITH the relaxation of rules and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by the government during the recovery movement control order (RMCO), the onus is on business operators and the public to maintain the necessary social distancing. As part of Sunway Malls’ ‘Your Safe Space, Our Safe Space’ initiative, Sunway Malls has introduced Social Distancing Officers (SDOs) – a team dedicated to analysing high-risk hotspots in its malls to ensure that both shoppers and retailers are practising safe Social Distancing measures mapped out by the government and management.
The SDOs, comprising of Sunway Malls’ staff, are tasked with carrying out core duties including dispersing large crowds in the malls and in stores, spacing out long queues at tenants’ outlets, reminding customers and retailers to wear masks, discouraging loitering at common or shared areas, ensuring retailers’ hand sanitisers and thermometers are working correctly, and ensuring the overall cleanliness and hygiene of the mall.
Sunway Velocity Mall has further enhanced this initiative by installing the VeloBuddies, Shuang Shuang the Bunny and Wei Wei the Panda, at its Food Street Food precinct at Level Four. Dressed as Social Distancing Officers, these adorable 3D cardboard figurines play their part against the spread of Covid-19 by being physical reminders to maintain social distance while shoppers dine in at Food Street Food restaurants.
Although barriers and characters are used by some individual restaurants to make social distancing fun, Sunway Velocity Mall will be the first mall to implement the characters on a wider scale – simultaneously in more than 10 outlets.
Working with Cardboard Country from Sunway Velocity Mall’s Commune precinct at Level Five, the VeloBuddies are made entirely of cardboard to ensure the sturdiness of these figurines while being environmentally-friendly.
Sunway Velocity Mall general manager Phang Sau Lian said: “As a holistic approach to the new normal, the mall is working together with our outlets and their employees on social distancing, hygiene, and operational guidelines that should be practiced.
“We’d like to see this implementation of social distancing VeloBuddies as a way to spread joy to patrons, while dining and/or shopping, albeit in a safe way.
“We’re looking at making this as table conversation between diners; even though we need to maintain distance, it doesn’t mean that we can’t connect and maintain a sense of community.”
Sunway Malls chief operating officer Kevin Tan shared: “In these unprecedented times, we at Sunway Malls has come forth with a clear plan to provide shoppers with the certainty that our malls are a safe space to be.
“We know we can achieve this as long as we all work together and do our part in following the safety and hygiene guidelines put in place for the benefit of all who from walk through our doors.”
To promote safe dining, from July 16-30, there will be exclusive tea time promotions from 3pm-6pm at Food Street Food and other participating outlets As an added incentive, Sunway Velocity Mall patrons can ‘Eat for Free with VeloBuddies’ from July 10 to Aug 9.
Spend a minimum of RM10 in a single receipt at Food Street Food, take a picture with Shuang Shuang or Wei Wei, post on your social media, then head over to the Ground Floor Concierge Counter to verify your posted picture to redeem a RM10 Food Street Food cash voucher!
Alongside the VeloBuddies, Sunway Malls has introduced and implemented 82 safety and hygiene measures across its seven malls which include high accuracy thermal scanners, intensified cleaning and sanitization and safety reminders.
Sunway Velocity Mall has also launched a mall-wide priority lane for senior citizens, pregnant women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) under the helm of Priority Customer, so they can enjoy relatively queue-free shopping in the mall’s 400 outlets from 12pm-6pm daily.
