Monday, December 18, 2017

Kluang Mall - The Biggest Shopping Centre at the Heart of Johor [Malaysia]

There's no way I can stomach another food session immediately after a pretty heavy dinner at star restaurant; at least not at my age! 

The meal must be partially digested first before we were to stress the tummy further!  Since walking will aid in digestion, I indicated a visit to the biggest shopping center in Kluang, the heart of Johor

Boasting wide passageways and over 160 retail and dining outlets, Kluang Mall is listed on TripAdvisor as the #5 thing to do in Kluang

Singapore has a lot of shopping centers and it's a must to manage our expectations for a mall in a small Malaysian town. 

To sum it up, it wouldn't be the classy malls you see along Orchard Road with fancy designs and fixtures that made you ooh and ahh; the built-in 2008 Kluang Mall had a more practical design and what's more important would be the tenant mix. 

As the three of us have different things to look out for, we decided to split up and meet at a pre-determined location around 90 minutes later. 

Mascots; one of which was the character of Sun Wukong, the naughty yet terribly powerful monkey in Journey to the West! I think mascots do appeal to many shoppers, especially the children! 

There was another guy in front; from far, it looked like he was sitting on top of a robotic animal that was ferrying him obediently from one point to another. On a closer look, it was merely a costume and the hind legs of the "animal" were, in fact, the legs of the boy! 

Entered the "brands outlet" as I was on the lookout for cheap boxers! The ones in Singapore are freakish expensive and I didn't think the quality was worth the price. Personally, there's only one brand that I feel has the best quality; Burberry which cost S$120 now (in the past, it was less than S$50 a pair).

No boxers but my eyes lighted up at the sign; RM50 for 3 pieces of basic tees! Tried out a few pieces and got 3 pieces in one go. Saw sleeveless tees for the same price and grabbed those too! Darn, i am such an impulsive shopper! 

Optical illusion for those going to the washrooms! This was actually a publicity for the street art in Kluang. Now that the mural arts in Penang have gained so much popularity, many places in Malaysia (even Singapore) have also started doing the same to boost tourism. 

Cars for sale in the shopping mall; key question, how did they manage to get it in?! And I doubt the tiles can withstand the weight of the cars. 

Yubiso; the concept was similar to Miniso which I thought was a smaller scale of Daiso. The key difference would be the pricing as everything in Daiso is sold at a specific price while the ones for Yubiso and Miniso vary. 

 A new brand for handphone known as Vivo; I have never heard about it. Technically I had but the vivo I know came with the extra word "city; as in Vivo City. 

For a small town mall, it's amazing to see a two-floor H&M shop. There was even a Uniqlo clothing outlet where I spent around RM200  for three shirts! 

Kenny Rogers and Baskin Robbins; uninterested to find out more about the dining establishments as I was still stuffed with the delicious food from star restaurant! For the list of food outlets at Kluang Mall, click here

A dedicated zone for the animal rides! Even though I had paid for a few sessions for the nephew and niece when they were younger, I always feel very apologetic whenever we blocked someone's way, especially along a narrow passage! Hence, such dedicated zone would address the problem. 

There was an arcade for kids too! 

More things for kids; the Kids Play Zone (Sea World)! With kids being so pampered nowadays, it's no wonder that shopping malls are targeting the kids and hope that the kids would 'persuade' their parents to drop by the shopping center. 

The word "persuade" can include throwing a tantrum. 

To be the largest shopping center, two specific shops are required; a cinema and also a supermarket! In the case of Kluang Mall, it has a MBO cinema, bowling alleys and instead of a supermarket, there's a Pacific Hypermarket! 

Central atrium near the main entrance featured a stage for their "Christmas in Space" theme for the upcoming festival. Most shoppers were concentrated in this area even though I generally thought that the crowd was a bit thin on a Saturday evening. 

Performances by the locals; they were pretty good and I was amazed by the enthusiasm of the crowd which we don't commonly see in Singapore. Maybe that's why the Malaysians can thrive so well in music and performing arts. 

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Location
Jalan Rambutan, Taman Suria, 
86000 Kluang, Johor, Malaysia

Google Map

Check out my google map (look for Kluang Mall) as above.

Website

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