Taipei 101, one of the nation’s leading shopping centers, is planning to reduce its business hours due to decreased demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taipei 101 is to open daily at noon and close at 9pm from April 6, building management said in a statement on Monday.
The shopping center has been opening at 11am and closing at 9:30pm from Sunday to Thursday, while closing at 10pm on Friday and Saturday.
Photo: Bloomberg
The restaurants in the food court — on the basement level — would adjust their business hours as necessary, but the supermarket would continue to open at 9am daily, management said.
The shopping mall is the nation’s first to cut back operations due to the pandemic, which has heavily affected business in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
Taipei 101 has since February implemented measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, such as checking the temperature of shoppers and denying entry to those with a reading of 37.5°C or higher.
Management said that it has improved the building’s ventilation system and more frequently disinfects elevators, escalators and restrooms.
The new business hours would allow mall enterprises and brand stores to spread out employee shifts to lower the risk of COVID-19 infection, management said.
Meanwhile, other major shopping centers, such as the Far Eastern Sogo Department Store (遠東Sogo百貨) chain, the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越百貨) chain and the Breeze Group (微風集團), said that they have no plans to reduce their business hours.
Separately, 17 Michelin-starred restaurants in Taipei that earlier this year were found to have breached sanitary regulations have all passed a second inspection, the city’s Department of Health said on Monday.
The department inspected 51 Michelin-starred restaurants in Taipei from January to March, and found that 17 of the restaurants had contravened sanitary regulations, the department said in a statement.
Inspectors found dirty equipment or ingredients on the floor, while some restaurants failed to provide the results of employee health examinations, the department said.
A second inspection showed that the offending conditions had been corrected, it said.
The restaurants with offenses were Golden Formosa (金蓬萊遵古台菜), The Restaurant (三二行館), Indulge Bistro (實驗創新餐酒館), Leputing (樂埔町), RAW, Nihonryori RyuGin (祥雲龍吟), Le Palais (頤宮中餐廳), Chi Chia Chuang (雞家莊), Tainan Tan Tsu Mien Seafood Restaurant (台南擔仔麵海鮮餐廳), Sushi Ryu (隆鮨), JE Kitchen, Sushi Amamoto (鮨天本), Shing Peng Lai (興蓬萊), Tairroir (態芮), Tien Yuan Seafood (田園海鮮), Yu Kapo (彧割烹) and Peng Lai (蓬萊), the statement said.
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RSS