Is Sylvia Park really that bad?
by Matt Samra
Everyone I talk to seems to hate Sylvia Park.
Either I hang out with too many snobs, or the shopping complex is, to put it in plain terms, crap.
But before I launch into a rich diatribe about Sylvia Park, I think it’s only fair to run through the pros and cons of Auckland’s biggest shopping mall.
Cons
1- The Playboy store. Women of a certain age and hoochie mums can now can embarrass their kids even more. Paradise for those Aucklanders who love to look sleazy.
2- There are three supermarkets in Sylvia Park plus a Countdown just five minutes up the road. A little excessive don’t you think?
3- Car dependency. So the mall is apparently only 20mins away from 500,000 people. Woop-dee-do. How many people do you see walking there?
4- The outbreak of dodgy, wannabe street-kids. Patrons of Sylvia Park are often intimidated by the local hoodlems who use the cinema lobby to congregate in their little gangs.
5- Where are all the exclusive/high street labels that were promised? Chain stores like General Issue don’t really cut it.
6- A total of 3200 parks, and not one of them available.
Pros
1- There are 200 shops. It’s quantity over quality, with a wide range of things to see. I find the Christmas Shop that’s open all year fascinating. How they manage to survive is beyond me.
2- Some pretty trendy architecture. Apart from the coloured sticks. And the ‘Cone’ centerpiece. Actually it’s pretty standard overall. Nice, but not exceptional.
3- A huge cinema complex that put Hoyts back on the map. Sky City finally has some competition. But the lobby doesn’t even sell frozen Cokes.
So it’s fair to say ‘Saliva Park’ has a few wrinkles to iron out.
What do you think?
Yep totally agree that is not all that. Went out there in the weekend, and it was just like any other mall, except with a few different shops. But it didn’t really break away from the major chains, so that is what didn’t make it special.
Personally Matt I think that Sylvia Park is pretty good by NEW ZEALAND standards. It’s way better than any of the Westfield malls and Botany. The facilities are clean, the foodcourt is pretty thorough and there is ample parking. Plus it’s just across the road from the motorway onramp/exits.
Maybe I’m bias cos I work across the road.
And as for the hoodlums…you get them everywhere now. Even Nuffield Street ow!