More Retail Therapy, Anyone?

Tourism Malaysia shopping campaign

KUALA LUMPUR, NOVEMBER 2014: Do you know that the mall was originally created to be a community centre where people would come together for shopping, cultural activities and social interaction? Well it is safe to say that the ubiquitous mall has achieved and even surpassed those early expectations. Our favourite mall gets us out of the harsh weather, be it hot or cold and has everything that we need to relax, shop, eat and in some cases, do some training to keep fit.  

A good mall is all about location and offerings – established merchants, good restaurants, eateries and that special something that makes one mall different from another. Although many people go to a mall to shop, others see the shopping centre as an activity hub and expect to be entertained when they meet up with friends and family at these places. Combining relaxing entertainment with physical entertainment like a sports arena, a skating rink or an in-door garden provides people with options to choose from and this is usually regarded as one of the top qualities of a good shopping mall.   

Nowadays, it is very common to come across areas which have been developed with a combination of hotels, malls, restaurants, offices, stores and residential units to form their own communities. In a country like Malaysia, where traffic jams are prevalent and parking spaces limited, people prefer to shop in one location without having to drive all over town. 

There are more than 350 shopping malls in Malaysia at present, with well over 120 malls in greater Kuala Lumpur itself, many of them concentrated in the Bukit Bintang area. Some of these malls attract over 3 million visitors a month - proof that apart from eating, Malaysians love to shop. 

Malaysians are in for a retail overdrive with the opening of new malls in and around Malaysia beginning with Quill City Mall in October 2014 and IOI City Mall Putrajaya in 20 November this year.   

Quill City Retail Mall is a 7-storey lifestyle mall encompassing a net area of 770,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Located along Jalan Sultan Ismail, it has more than 320 trendy lifestyle stores, an exciting entertainment hub and an exclusive Kid Zone spread across its spacious area. The best feature of the mall comes in the form of its sky alfresco dining, the first of its kind in Kuala Lumpur. The dining area has an organically shaped roof consisting of multi-coloured glass and opaque panels that allow for maximum daylight and fantastic views of the surrounding area.

IOI City Mall is a brand new lifestyle and entertainment mall located in Putrajaya. It consists of four levels of retail space, encompassing 1.4 million sq. ft. of net lettable area. Once opened, IOI City Mall will have over 350 specialty stores, restaurants and eateries. Its anchor tenants include Golden Screen Cinema, Parkson and HomePro. The best feature of the mall is the Olympic size skating rink and indoor entertainment park called “District 21”.   
 
There are several malls set to open in the first quarter of 2015, i.e. Sunway Putra Mall and Sunway Velocity in Kuala Lumpur. Sunway Putra Mall is part of an integrated development comprising Sunway Putra Tower (offices), Sunway Putra Hotel and Serviced Apartments. Located opposite the Putra World Trade Centre, the mall comprises 580,000 sq. ft. of retail space providing shoppers, especially those living around Taman Duta and Kenny Hills, with six levels of shopping and dining experience. 

Sunway Velocity Mall is located near Jalan Cochrane and not unlike its sister mall, the Sunway Putra Mall, will also consist of offices and hotel components. The feature concept of the mall will be a thematic retail area - an Asian Avenue offering South Korean, Japanese and other Asian goods and services. Both Sunway Putra Mall and Sunway Velocity Shopping Mall will not have an anchor departmental store but instead, have eight to ten mini-anchor tenants including a supermarket, a cosmetics hall, a home improvement store, a food court and a cineplex.   

Expected too, in the next two years are three self-contained mixed developments of hotels, offices, residential and retail areas i.e. Empire City in Damansara, MyTownKL and KL Gateway in the Bangsar South area. Shoppers can expect every one of these developments to offer the best mix in retail, dining and leisure to hit Kuala Lumpur’s ever growing shopping landscape.   
-Tourism Malaysia.