Rant & Raves

The Starbucks in Jaya One, Petaling Jaya, is their 100th stores in Malaysia. In conjunction to the opening of this 100th store, Starbucks threw a party media bash for their VIPs, super regular customers, and the media.

Yeah, I was invited to attend the party.

The party started at 9am. But as usual, our Malaysia time is always one or two hours behind the actual time, so a lot of people didn’t show up until 10am. Even the media, like reporters from newspaper, news crews from NTV7 and stuff didn’t show up until like 10:15am. I felt like an idiot for being so punctual as I was already there since 8:55am. But I guess I was just respecting everyone else for being punctual.

The signature board located at the front. If you look careful enough, you will find my signature there.

Upon registration, I was given a goodie bag. Inside there are 2 coupons for ANY Starbucks drinks, and the expiry date is July 31st, 2009! Then there’s a big Starbucks mug, retailed at RM49, and then one bookmark, one handphone screen cleaner strap, and one Limited Edition (100th Store) Tumbler. The goodie bag is estimated at RM100 and above. Nice stuff.

Then when the big bosses like Datuk Robert Tan (son of Tan Sri Vincent Tan, one of the richest man in Malaysia), Datuk Francis Lee, executive director of Starbucks Malaysia, and the President of Starbucks Asia Pacific arrived, everything started to move and they went to the stage to talk about the brief history of Starbucks, Starbucks Malaysia, and the milestone for reaching the 100th stores.

Then we were invited into the new Starbucks at Jaya One, and we were given a tour of the decoration, especially the new theme from Starbucks, “Supporting Youth Arts” where they are sponsoring youths in arts.

After that, there were around 15 kids performing on stage, just out side of the store. These kids were amazing. They were using recycled daily items such as dustbin, pan, bucket, etc and they performed a song track. It was groovy and all the crowds, even the big bosses and media people, were shaking their booty and dancing along with the song. Then, when these kids were done, all of us were giving them a standing ovation (actually, we were already standing).

After the performance, we were treated to Starbucks-style food (lunch), which includes Chicken Finger sandwiches, croissants, cakes, etc and there was this guy wearing a container backpack to distribute iced coffee to the guests. During the free-food session, I started to mingle with other guests and also the executive directors of Starbucks Malaysia. We talked for a bit, and I also got a chance to catch up with a few old friends.

I left at around 1230pm. Yes, I know I left early, but I was extremely tired.

I slept at 2am this morning, and woke up at 330am and couldn’t sleep again afterwards. And we were outdoor most of the time so I felt really tired and not comfortable.

Anyway, I would say that they had done a great job, especially organizing an event of this scale and most of us were enjoying the drinks, food, the performance, and the hot emcee whose name was Andrea or something. She’s hot, and I think I have seen her somewhere. Maybe she’s a local celebrity or something, but I won’t know. I know there were some celebrities but then, I am not a follower for local entertainment.

Visit the Starbucks at Jaya One. It is the milestone for Starbucks Malaysia to have the 100th store in less than 10 years.