- Cheras Sentral Shopping Centre in Cheras;
- Market Hall in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur;
- [email protected] in Sepang;
- Main Place Mall in USJ 21, Subang Jaya;
- The School by Jaya One in Section 13, Petaling Jaya;
- Nu Sentral Mall in KL Sentral;
- Jaya Shopping Centre in Section 14, Petaling Jaya;
- Encorp Strand Mall in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya;
- Ikon Connaught Shopping Centre in Cheras;
- Quill City Mall in Downtown Kuala Lumpur;
- Gamuda Walk Mall in Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam;
- D’Pulze Shopping Centre in Cyberjaya; and
- IOI City Mall in IOI Resort City, Putrajaya.
Nu Sentral Mall is a transit-oriented, green-rated shopping centre. It is integrated with various modes of rail transportation in Kuala Lumpur.
Amongst these new shopping centres, IOI City Mall would be the largest opening for the year. The shopping centre has an estimated net lettable area of 1.4 million sq ft, or roughly the size of Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
This new “megamall” of southern Klang Valley will feature Malaysia’s first Olympic-sized ice-skating rink, an indoor adventure theme park known as “District 21” and the first-in-the-country stores respectively for Thailand-originated retailers HomePro and Index Living Mall.
Pamper yourself with the exclusive Beauty Hall at Level 7 of Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
In June 2014, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur launched a new lifestyle precinct dubbed the Beauty Hall, containing beauty salons, manicure and pedicure spas, and wellness centres.
Top shopping centres such as Pavilion Kuala Lumpur and Suria KLCC enjoyed new tenancies taken up by international brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Paul Smith, Tory Burch, Loewe, Moschino, MCM, Longchamp, Furla, Versus Versace, Nicholas & Bears, United Colors of Benetton, Blackbarrett, Halston Heritage, Liu Jo, Dr. Martens, Toms, Evisu and True Religion.
Over at Starhill Gallery, luxury brands Louis Vuitton and Dior renovated and expanded their Malaysian flagship stores.
Meanwhile in Mid Valley City, the popular Mid Valley Megamall continued its upgrade program and added four new halls in GSC, making it a 24-screen Cineplex.
The Gardens Mall welcomed several luxury brands such as Gucci, Hermes, Prada, Michael Kors and TWG Tea Salon.
It’s swanky. Dior’s Malaysian flagship store reopened in July 2014.
Major retailers such as AEON, H&M and Uniqlo continued their aggressive expansion nationwide, including new stores in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
H&M has brought into the market its home collections and also its sister brand Monki with the first store opening in Nu Sentral Mall. Australia-based Cotton On opened its largest Southeast Asia store in Avenue K, next to KLCC.
AEON reinforced its offerings with the popping up of more AEON Wellness stores. German furniture retailer KARE opened at The Gardens Mall and later expanded to 1 Utama.
In an unexpected manner, we saw Quiksilver/Roxy exiting the Malaysian market with the closure of 14 stores nationwide.
AEON introduced an urban concept anchor store in Quill City Mall. Easiest way to spot the difference is its new black signage.
In keeping to the times, 1 Mont Kiara Mall was refurbished and reopened with a new look and several new tenants such as H&M, Sports Direct and The Barn.
We also saw retailer Parkson Group disposing off KL Festival City Mall in Setapak and subsequently taking over the management and leasing of Maju Junction Mall and also becoming an anchor tenant in it.
Smaller retail strata shoplex such as The Atmosphere in Seri Kembangan, Ativo Plaza in Bandar Sri Damansara, Dataran Cascades in Kota Damansara and CentreStage in Section 13, Petaling Jaya were also opened to lease but with a much slower take up rate compared to shopping centres.
These retail complexes are mainly neighbourhood-in-nature and well positioned to serve the convenience of nearby residents.
After the Taiwanese milk tea drinking craze, designer coffee outlets are mushrooming everywhere in neighbourhoods.
Notably during the year, we saw an explosive growth of Coffee-based food and beverage outlets. We became immune to the likes of entrepreneur startups such as Jibby & Co., Rekindle, VCR, BEAM, Cosans Coffee, Coffea Coffee, PULP By Papa Palheta; and franchised brands such as Caffe Bene, Jamaica Blue Coffee and Dal.Komm Coffee.
In the fastfood segment, Texas Chicken expanded aggressively whilst McDonald’s has close to 300 outlets nationwide.
Hong Kong-famed, Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan restaurant opened its first Malaysian outlet in Mid Valley City whilst American chain Red Lobster opened its first Malaysian outlet in The Intermark Mall.
Other notable outlet openings are Hakata Ippudo in The Gardens Mall and Bangsar Shopping Centre; Johnny Rockets in Sunway Pyramid (world’s largest) and Pavilion Kuala Lumpur; Quiznos Sub Sandwich in 1 Utama; Nana’s Green Tea in The Gardens Mall and 1 Utama; Din Tai Fung in 1 Utama; Kyochon in Sunway Pyramid and Pavilion Kuala Lumpur; and Magnum Café in Mid Valley City and IOI City Mall.