Walking down memory lane at Jaya Supermarket and Section 14, Petaling Jaya.... :(

It's been more than a year since the disaster occurred. On Thursday, May 28, 2009 at about 5 p.m., Jaya Supermarket which was located at Section 14 in Petaling Jaya collapsed during demolition work and killed seven construction workers. I was so surprised and I just couldn't believe my ears and what I saw on TV. It was unbelievable!!

The five-storey portion of the supermarket building collapsed right to the basement, where the car park was located, during demolition work. Built in 1974, the shopping centre was the commercial hub for all of Petaling Jaya back when it was still a small town. Although renamed Jaya Shopping Centre, residents still fondly refer to it as Jaya Supermarket.

Before I got married and moved to Kelana Jaya, I've been living in that area for nearly 4 years. It was located within walking distance of about less than 10 minutes from my rented house to the supermarket and even the office where I worked was located nearby. There were lots of memories, for sure.

Jaya Supermarket, Metrojaya, McDonald's and the surrounding areas of Section 14, Petaling Jaya, has been a place where my friends and I used to hang-out and did the window-shopping each time we get bored. Those were the days, when we were still single.

During the '80s, Jaya Supermarket was well-known as one of the best supermarkets in the Klang Valley selling imported foodstuff in a form of canned, frozen and non-frozen which one will find it hard to get from other supermarkets.

By the way, it wasn't a necessity for me and my friends, simply because we seldom cook but if we have to, we didn't use those imported stuff as the ingredients for our dishes. We cooked only simple and local dishes due to our lack of knowledge about cooking. Well, we were still "mommy's daughter" at that time. After all, when in need, the ingredients can be easily found at the wet and dry market nearby.

We normally had our meals at the nearby food stalls around the area and in the evening, the food stalls became a haven for food lovers from all walks of life including the local celebrities.

The expatriates and the upper income groups used to come to Jaya Supermarket to do their shopping and so did the local celebrities. I've seen many of them like the late Dato' S Roomai Noor, Noor Kumalasari and her husband, Amy Search and his band members, Blues Gang, Azean Irdawaty, Norfarahin Jamsari, Dato' Khatijah Ibrahim, Salamiah Hassan and a few others.

Gone are the days but the memories remain....