Baby-friendly malls in Penang

Not only is Penang famous for its food and culture, it is slowly becoming a shopping haven with plenty of new malls being built around the island.

Apart from visiting family and satisfying food cravings, I recently made time to visit some of the malls on the island with my little daughter.

Gurney Plaza

Gurney Plaza is part of the CapitaMalls group. This is the same group behind ION Orchard and Plaza Singapura in Singapore. Gurney Plaza is definitely one of the more crowded shopping complexes on the island.

This mall is located on the famous Gurney Drive promenade. Across the road, you will find the Gurney walkway where you can enjoy a stroll along the sea. However, as traffic tends to be quite heavy around this area, be cautious while crossing the road and keep an eye out for motorcyclists.

Apart from tenants such as Parkson, Cold Storage and Golden Screen Cinemas, Gurney Plaza is also home to Daiso and numerous fashion brands such as MNG, Guess and Dorothy Perkins. There is a variety of outlets that cater to different age groups.

Gurney Plaza has baby changing facilities on every floor, most of which are located next to the rest rooms. There, you will find a clean private room equipped with a sink and a changing table to change your little one. If you are unable to locate the room, there is also the standard pull-out changing compartment that you can use in the disabled people’s rest rooms.

Gurney Plaza is generally a convenient place for parents to manoeuvre a baby stroller through. The walkways are spacious and there are quite a number of elevators available.

For children’s items, head up to the third floor for stores specialising in toys, books and much more. There is Mothercare and Toys “R” Us, to name just two.

For the indoor playland, go up a level to the fourth floor. This play area has rides in the form of miniature vehicles. Each ride costs RM1. For the younger ones, there is a small plastic playhouse that comes with a slide.

Gurney Plaza also has an outdoor children’s play area which holds a simple combination playground structure. This is located on the ground floor next to the New Wing at the Kelawai Entrance.

Apart from great indoor dining and shopping, you can also dine al fresco to enjoy the occasional island breeze.

Pros: Baby changing facility on every floor; lots of baby and children stores.
Cons: Can get quite crowded during peak hours; traffic outside can get heavy.

Prangin Mall

Prangin Mall is located in George Town, which is the city centre. This mall reminds me of Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur. There is just so much to see. There is a whole range of local shops selling affordable knick-knacks.

Prangin Mall comprises of two blocks of buildings. The main anchors are Parkson on one side and Lotus Five Star (LFS), the cinema, on the other. The two buildings are separated by a road on the ground level. When I visited the mall, there was a traffic officer who was managing the flow of traffic and helping pedestrians cross the road. If you want to avoid the busy road, just walk across on one of the upstairs floors (the buildings are connected on the upper floors).

The walkways in the mall are narrow because some shops have their display shelves outside their shops. They are also often crowded with people. It gets a bit harder with a baby stroller but still manageable.