JOHOR BARU: It was award-winning Anuar Zain's wish to perform in a mid-end mall so that he could reach out to his fans from the low-to-mid income group.
With that in mind, he approached the management of Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd.
As luck would have it, Selangor-based Mydin, which runs a chain of malls, hypermarkets, supermarkets and emporiums, was looking for a local celebrity to work with.
Its head of division and brand communications Sabariah Mohd told a press conference here yesterday that the collaboration has turned into a win-win deal for all.
"We managed to get new shoppers and visitors to the mall, while Anuar got to meet more fans.
"Anuar has been performing in concerts where his fans need to buy tickets, so Anuar didn't want fans who couldn't afford to buy a ticket to miss out," Sabariah said.
The singing sensation held a fanmeet at Mydin Taman Pelangi Indah here – the last of six roadshows which had kicked off at Mydin Subang Jaya (Oct 9), and proceeded on to Bukit Mertajam in Penang (Oct 30), Meru Raya in Ipoh (Nov 6), Gong Badak in Terengganu (Nov 12) and Seremban 2 in Negri Sembilan (Dec 4).
"More than 1,000 fans showed up at each venue, (and) some came from as far as Brunei and Singapore.
"The fanmeet at Bukit Mertajam drew the largest number of fans, almost double (other venues)," she said.
On a separate matter, Sabariah said Mydin, which currently has more than 200 outlets nationwide, including 24 shopping malls, will open its flagship outlet in Vista Tunku, Sarawak, in May next year, with a RM180,000 capital investment.
"Our target is to open seven outlets every year," she said, adding that most of the tenants in Mydin malls are small-medium enterprises (SMEs).
Founded in 1940, the first Mydin store started operations in Penang.