While lots of things can happen when you’re out, the last thing you might expect to happen is probably seeing a huge glass door shatter right next to you.
But that’s what happened for patrons at Food Republic at NEX when the glass door facing the outside of the mall shattered into pieces on 27 February at around 2.20 pm.
Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Here’s what happened.
Patron’s Recount
When speaking to Shin Min Daily News, a patron named Ms Chen (Hanyu pinyin) recalled how she was having her afternoon tea with a friend at the food court.
She and her friend, who were around two to three tables away from the glass door, suddenly heard the sound of glass shattering.
The glass door then broke into pieces, with glass shards strewn all over the floor.
She added that a boy was sitting at a table near the door, but thankfully the glass shards did not hit him.
Area Had Already Been Cordoned Off Even Before Door Shattered
Ms Chen also shared that the area around the glass door had actually already been cordoned off before it even shattered to pieces.
There was also a notice pasted on the door which reminded patrons not to use the door, so no one touched it before it shattered.
After the glass door shattered, cleaners were deployed to clean up the floor and remove the glass shards.
Additionally, when MSNews visited the area at 4 pm that day, the area was still cordoned off, and notices that told patrons to enter the food court via another entrance were pasted near the cracked door.
The glass door, which was the right side of a sliding door, was completely cracked and shattered, while the left side appeared fine.
Door is Relatively New
When interviewed by MSNews, a cleaner at Food Republic revealed that the shattered door is only several years old as it had just been changed “a few years” ago.
However, even though there seemed to be some issues regarding the mechanics of the glass door, the cleaner did not observe any signs that the glass door was going to crack.
(Until it cracked, of course.)
She speculated that the strong gusts of winds might have caused the shattering.
Apart from that, according to her, there was a similar incident that occurred when NEX had just opened as a new mall.
And here’s what Food Republic has to say.
When responding to queries from Shin Min and MSNews, the management of Food Republic NEX revealed that they first realised that one of the glass sliding doors in the food court was not working properly on Sunday (26 February).
They noticed the issue at 11.30 pm when they were closing the food court for the day and decided to cordon off the area before opening the food court on Monday (27 February) after further evaluation.
However, the glass door “shattered suddenly without reason” at 2.22 pm that day.
Afterwards, the Food Republic team deployed staff to clean up the area immediately to ensure that their premises would be safe for their customers.
Additionally, Food Republic revealed that no one was injured as a result of the incident and that the management has started working closely with the mall’s management and contractor to install a new glass door.
In the statement, Food Republic also highlighted that their patrons’ safety is of great importance to them and that they will remain vigilant by conducting routine inspections before and after the food court’s operating hours and ensuring that action is taken immediately if there are any issues.