Praying Rooms in Shopping Centres: Are They Important?

The majority of Indonesia’s population are Muslims who must perform the obligatory five prayers daily in which the prayer times have been determined. Shopping centres can encourage ease of worship for Muslim visitors by preparing a praying room to make them feel comfortable and linger longer in the shopping centre, which positively impacts economic development. In this study, 85.3% of respondents selected praying rooms as the most important category compared to the other three categories in shopping centres. A questionnaire, observations and interviews were conducted in a shopping centre in Kabupaten Karawang as a case study to corroborate these initial findings, to determine if religious facilities are essential for Muslim visitors. Praying rooms are important for visitors, especially to promote cosiness for worship, and after praying, visitors can decide to stay and spend more time in the shopping centre. The respondents reported that the provision of worship facilities would benefit the management and tenants/outlets which offer products because the visitors linger in the shopping centre, increasing the products purchased. Keywords: Muslims, shopping centre, praying room, positive impact, economic movement