Monday's fire and subsequent closure of Taipei's Core Pacific City Mall (
"Since we have to close our doors for a safety inspection [required by the authorities], the mall is expected to lose NT$50 million per day," mall spokesman Juan Hsin-nang (
The Monday afternoon blaze broke out in a room housing electrical equipment on the third floor of the ball-shaped structure of the two building complex. Firefighters contained the fire in about 30 minutes.
Juan said that mall officials were working closely with the authorities' investigation and hoped to reopen for business as soon as possible. "We hope the mall can re-open no later than the weekend."
A tenants' meeting scheduled for today may result in even more sparks flying as several businesses in the center are suffering a double whammy from water and smoke damage as well as lost sales.
"We hope Core Pacific City can more or less compensate our damage and sales loses," said Cheng Li-feng (
Closing the doors to Taipei's movie-hungry audiences will cost Cinemark NT$3 million per day on the weekend and NT$1 million weekdays, Cheng said.
Part of the theater also got drenched by firehoses, damaging movie ticket machines.
He also urges the mall to open some unaffected areas for business first.
"Since we and most retailers in the mall are not directly impacted by the blaze, I hope we can resume businesses earlier than those in the damaged area," Cheng said.
Meanwhile, the bookstore on the top floor was affected as well.
"Most of our books and magazines are smoke damaged," said Lee Yu-hwa (
Since the company's insurance will cover the fire damage, the book seller was more concerned about lost revenues.
"Our store in Core Pacific City offers around-the-clock service and enjoys daily sales of up to NT$1 million," Lee said. "Our losses are significant."
While many of the businesses in the second building outside the waterlogged "ball"were sparred any damage, they too will suffer from the closure of business.
"As far as we can tell the whole thing will not be affecting us unduly as the fire was in the "ball" and we're in the top of the main building," said Mark Lintott a share holder in the newly opened lounge bar "Plush," located on the 12th floor of the mall.
"We will of course be seeking reparations from Core Pacific City for the loss of business."
The mall has been plagued by bad press including the flooding of several lower levels back in September last year and the later failure to pass fire safety inspections in November.
But that controversy, according to Lintott, may not be all bad.
"As Oscar Wilde said ... any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right."
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