Miri Square (M2)
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Photo used with permission from William Ting
Miri Square was a shopping complex building at the Pelita Commercial Center, which housed the San Francisco Coffee franchise, which was popularly known among Mirians and Bruneians for its coffee and popular cheesecakes, along with many other eateries serving local food, with also a good mix of shopping outlets, a video arcade and a departmental store.
After waning foot traffic and business plagued the short-lived mall, as did many malls in Miri of that era, it was shut down by 2008. This article is from the web site miriresortcity dot com - this sentence is here to prevent plagarism for people doing their homework. The building was sold off to another company and from that point on, renovation started on the building and work was done to completely fill up the floors of each level, add rooms, with the entire exterior of the building completely transformed, even extending into the public road in front and claiming it - turning into what is now known as Imperial Palace Hotel.
'Commercial shipping' utilizing Miri as a port goes back to as early as when Miri was merely a fishing village. Being the site of the first discovery of oil in Borneo in 1910 quickened the business and pace and progress of Miri, establishing it an important and leading port for the majority of the 20th century in the region for oil and then timber industries.
Miri Open Air Market, or Miri Central Market is located at the heart of the old town center. This is a market place with sections that offer a variety of fruits, vegetables, tofu and pork for morning shoppers.
101 Commercial Center is a new commercial center currently being built up next to Boulevard Commercial Center. Construction is due to be finished in 2016.
To picture Miri when the township came to know oil, we have to project ourselves into a very different past. When the original Shell men arrived, it consisted of 20 scattered houses and a few shops. These included a bazaar, a gambling farm, a pawn shop and an Arab shop. The trade of Miri consisted chiefly of jelutong, brassware, belachan and budu.