Those who frequent Johor Bahru would likely have been to Holiday Plaza. The mall in Jalan Dato Sulaiman is popular with Singaporeans for its hair and nail salons, massage parlours and mobile accessories stores. The KFC outlet there is also famous; its signature red facade is so distinctive that it’s designated as a Grab pickup and drop-off point.

Specsaving Optical added that the Holiday Plaza KFC branch has “way better” fried chicken than other outlets, and its food used to be served on old-school white dinner plates (though as far as we know, the outlet has since switched to using paper trays in the past few years).

No reason was given for the closure, but Johor — including Holiday Plaza — has been hit hard by a dearth of tourists since Singapore and Malaysia closed their borders due to the Covid-19 outbreak. A hairstylist at Kazoku Hair Salon at Holiday Plaza told 8days.sg that they have lost as much as “90 per cent” of their customer base, which had mainly comprised Singaporeans.

The mall’s anchor tenant, Parkson department store, also closed down last October after operating for 35 years there. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin for KFC was Malaysia’s latest round of Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0), which prohibits dine-ins at eateries after a recent surge in coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile the fate of another fast food giant in the mall, McDonald’s, is hanging in the balance too. While it had temporarily closed last October, it announced via its Facebook page that it has reopened and will continue to offer food delivery through the MCO. Here’s hoping that the McOutlet survives Covid-19.

Click here to read more about 40 well-known F&B establishments in Singapore that closed down in 2020.

Photos: Google Maps/ Facebook