25 years in Bangsar, and I've seen...

I've been living in Bangsar for close to three quarters of my life. The three quarters would include a good 25 years of experience in this neighbourhood, which equates to a good quarter of a century!

Man, I'm old. I can roughly tell you the spots of walls in Bangsar that were once spray painted with various messages courtesy of the alternatives trying to make a point. It was a furor of the media at one point, I remember. Well, the walls have since been white washed and given a nice gloss of paint.

Long before Alexis had their makeover, which some say has boosted their sales tremendously with its Australian like feel of a cafe, and long before Serene Outlook bedazzled the eyes of passerby's way past midnight with their fluorescent like display-the lot originally housed our favourites Coffee Bean which was just right across the road from Starbucks.

Long before there was even Bangsar Village 1 or 2, there was the Jolly Green Giant with its rat infested offerings, and also the almost dead Hankyu Jaya that now houses BV1. I've seen the motions, enough to say that KFC was once just neighbours to our dear old McDonald's, and right opposite was Burger King with its substandard value meals.

There was also this memorable competitor to Seven Eleven (I know their theme colour was green), which now houses the sleepy steak joint at the corner, right next to Chow Yang Foot Massage. The "green" mart was the place to get the best ice cream, where you could do your own sundae twist-chocolate and vanilla at just less than RM 2.00! You could keep going round and round, and lick the melted ice cream real quickly to pack in more for your money's worth!

Well, memories are what I have of Bangsar and I do wish to see more improvements-especially in terms of safety and also the pot holes in the roads! That has never changed, unfortunately.

And now, Bangsar is...

It's time to look forward to see which shops have contributed to the colours and atmosphere of what makes Bangsar. I'd say it would be: La Bodega, which is jam packed for breakfast-having their own niche crowd of business people having bacon, eggs and sandwiches at jacked up prices for their first meal of the day.

Rocky Restaurant, one of my favourite hangouts just because they serve good home-cook food and when you are there, its like you are lost in time. An old-school coffee shop in the middle of the Bangsar hustle bustle!

There's also the range of boutiques that have sprung up-with cute names and displays selling clothes probably source from the similar countries and suppliers. But nevertheless, I've always enjoyed their creative display-Blook, Tea & Symphony, Cat's Whiskers and so much more.

Zooming in on CzipLee... 

And finally, there's CzipLee which has taken over lot from Public Mutual two years back and is housed right next to Nirwana, which has almost never seen a dip in their banana leaf and Indian Cuisine business though the economy has gone through some rough and tumble.

CzipLee has made its own niche landmark with the regular "oohs & aaahs" from delighted patrons seeing stationery wonderland, and not to forget-its range of well stocked school books, children titles and fiction that would get mothers and children absolutely delighted.

I for one love the fact that they are affordable. The prices are good, during the bad and good times-they don't keep hiking the prices, I really like that about them, especially now that inflation has hit an all time high of 7.7%. Even if they do, they try not to pass so much of the cost on to consumers-that should be a point well noted.

CzipLee: One Stop Printing Centre Come August 2008

Well, CzipLee has something up their sleeves, to cater to the changing winds of Bangsar, and that is a one stop printing centre. Loads of people having come in and out to ask for photocopying, printing, binding and laminating services and even designing of name cards. Well, CzipLee sure has that figured out, and will fill that gap, this August 2008.

Again, at their ever competitive pricing. Check it out soon, to see for yourself. CzipLee, meeting Bangsar's needs!

(This article was contributed by a true born and bred 'Bangsar-ian'. One of our regular customers! Thank you, YOU!=))

Labels: 101, 2008, Bangsar, CzipLee Printing

So  we were featured in The Star newspaper yesterday. And its Moleskine-related. We won't go on about it, you can read all about them yourself here and here:

Or if you want to read the e-paper version, here.

But just one clarification. There WILL BE 19 different types of Moleskines to choose from next year. This is in relation to the Diaries not notebooks! Just thought we get that out of the way. In appreciation to all your support to Moleskine@CzipLee, this one's for you:

So now, what are you waiting for! Hurry in! =)

For more on Moleskine, visit Plus.

Labels: 2008, CzipLee Plus, Moleskine

June was a quiet month from us on the web-front but it was one of the more exciting month's in-store!

1) Newsletter blast

We are proud to say we have built up a database of more than 4,000 members; and we're at long last, kicking off our CzipNews blast to keep all of you informed on our promotions, updates and more.

Keeping in touch with you is what we would like to do, so do share with us your emails and comments or tell your friends to subscribe to our mailing list - even though they may be overseas. You never know, we might just be able to arrange for that cute stationery, that Moleskine or anything to be delivered or purchased by your friend overseas!

Note: Emails were obtained with members consent through the CzipCard application.

You can subscribe or unsubscribe to our mailing list here. And send us your emails through our contact form here.

2) Nip Tucking Kajang & Bangsar

We have had add-on(s) to both stores for more products! We have been giving Kajang a face-lift for a while now and we're picking up the pace with a major overhaul for one of the key areas in the store (one that would make the guys from Nip/Tuck proud!). Let's just say after a decade or so Kajang was due for a newer look! Be patient, we are doing it in stages! Also, Kajang gets a new outlook too. Here the work in progress:

3) We have something NEW...coming up @ Bangsar

We created space in Bangsar for an exciting and what we consider a very integral component to the CzipLee tag-line of "Meeting Your Needs". This will be revealed by end of July! So check back this space!

4) Books@Bangsar (our 1^st floor reorganised to serve you better)

Books@Bangsar (our first floor-and yes, we're not all about the stationery! =)) was revamped this past week. The team did a great job re-organising the place and in the next few weeks, we'll be putting up a few interesting boosters on the website and in-store to further enhance your experience at CzipLee!

5) Upgrades on www.cziplee.com

CzipLee.com is almost 2 now and we have seen a lot of upgrades to our beloved website. July marks the beginning of a new phase on our website and we can't wait to share with you all these new things.

We are still as excited as when we first sat down to conceptualise this website. Thanks to your constant support and the emails you guys have been sending in, we are ready to take it on to another new level.

To keep the expectations bearable, it's not anything too major, too quickly. Like all good things in life, we're going to take it slow and get it right.

6) We turned the big 4-0!

We've hit the big 4-0! And we celebrated our 40th anniversary with a blast internally, with our long lasting suppliers and business partners. It's a joy to grow old, gracefully yet staying young and relevant to you guys! Watch our for some specials soon!

7) Quick promo for July: Lamy

Just to highlight also that the Lamy Noto promotion is still on-going! If you have not seen it or you missed out on it, here is the pitch!

So that's July from us for now, we'll update again soon!

Till then,

Your friends at

P.S. If you want to read our monthly stories, read them here!

Labels: 2008, Letters