Shopping in Kuala Lumpur - The Jellie Guide to Capitalist Success
After months of travelling, we need new wardrobe. Luckily we were in the bustling metropolis of Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur. Shopping in Kuala Lumpur can be overwhelming. From the busy market stores of Petaling street and Masjid Jamek to the mega malls surrounding the Petronas Towers. Read our guide for our experiences shopping in Malaysia’s capital city.
Kuala Lumpur is a shoppers paradise. The Malaysian capital is a smorgasbord full of modern malls and local markets offering everything from high-end luxury wares to knock-off sportswear. If you’re after a new wardrobe or just want to escape the heat in an air conditioned mall, a day of shopping in KL is an absolute must!
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We’d been on the road for a good few months when Ellie’s shoes finally gave out. They’d put up with a lot, from hiking to the World’s End, climbing Sigiriya Rock, exploring the ruins of Ritigala and generally being abused, they had at last worn through their soles. This was the final push we needed to update and refresh our battered backpacking wardrobes. John had successfully spilled various curries and then had split the bum on two of his shorts. Ellie’s jeans had somehow gone yellow at the knees and nearly see through on the crotch. It was time for us to explore the shopping malls of Kuala Lumpur!
Wherever you are in Kuala Lumpur, you’re never far away from one of the city's vast megamalls. Coming from London we thought Westfield was pretty large, but in Kuala Lumpur there appears to be a Westfield on every other street corner.
This is the Jellie guide to shopping in Kuala Lumpur - we’re definitely not experienced Carrie Bradshaws but we gave it a good go!
Suria KLCC Mall - The Petronas Shopping Centre
Set at the base of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Towers, the Suria KLCC Mall is one of the largest, “prestige” malls on offer. It's worth a trip, even if it's only to take the obligatory Petronas Tower selfie.
The mall is set over 6 enormous floors, and houses hundreds of luxury brands flagship stores, along with food courts, coffee shops and all the usual mall things.
This is also your starting place if you want to go to the viewing platform of the Petronas Towers.
As backpackers, this was not really a shopping centre for us. As we said everything was a flagship store, and very expensive. However, it is a great place to wander around and cool off and escape the Malaysian heat.
Pavilion Mall
We found this mall as we were Googling sports shops to replace Ellie’s footwear and it seemed that Pavilion Mall had every shop we were looking for.
Located very close to the Jalan Alor Night Market and Bukit Bintang Train Station, the mall is vast. With cinemas, restaurants and many, many shops.
Like most modern shopping centres, each floor seemed to be themed around a certain set of products, for example all the sports brands we were looking for were all grouped closely together.
For those looking to replace their backpacking wardrobe, this had everything you could need. From great t-shirts at the Instagram favourite of Cotton On to international sports brands like Adidas, Puma and Nike. For backpacking and hiking footwear, there was Soleman, North Face and many camping shops, as well as a large Skechers store where we found some walking shoes for a good price.
Downstairs there's a good food court, full of international fast food brands and even a Nandos! As well as a large Malaysian food court. However if you’re looking for good food, we’d recommend pairing a visit to this mall with…
Lot 10
A very short walk from Pavilion Mall (literally opposite the entrance/exit to Bukit Bintang station) is Lot 10.
This relatively small shopping centre (for Kuala Lumpur) seemed to mainly consist of a large H&M store and the delightfully named Japanese shop Don Don Donki. For those who haven’t experienced this Japanese institution, it's worth getting lost in its bizarre aisles. Warning though, the ear worm repetitive Don Don Donki music will stick in your brain for weeks to come!
The shopping is not however why we came. The basement of Lot 10 holds an excellent, reasonably priced food court specialising in delicacies from across the whole of Malaysia. From Penang’s famous Duck Egg Kuey Teow to Ipoh’s Chicken Hor Fun and the ubiquitous and delicious Chilli Pan Mee. Many of the vendors here are the new location for famous street cart stalls and several of them have won very prestigious food awards. We found the prices to be higher than what you’d pay on the street, but massively lower than you’d expect for the quality of food you get!
We’d recommend fuelling up for food here before hitting the larger Pavilion Mall next door.
Sunway Velocity Mall
A short Grab taxi ride away to the east of central Kuala Lumpur is the Sunway Velocity Mall. This was one of our favourite malls in the city. We visited just as it had opened on a Tuesday morning and it was very chilled out, nearly empty and had everything we needed.
Like every mall listed above, Sunway Velocity Mall had all the usual suspects. A mix of Western and Malay shops, international restaurant chains (John was extremely tempted by Ippudo Ramen) as well as a cinema and attached hotel.
If you’re travelling with children this looked like an excellent mall to keep the little ones entertained as it housed a large slide/climbing/trampoline complex, a brightly coloured train that was driving around and lots of merry-go-rounds and bouncy castles.
Outside the mall there is a large pedestrianised street lined with restaurants and bars. We ate in an extremely spicy Szechuan beef noodle joint and we highly recommend you do the same!
Very spicy noods!
Sogo Kuala Lumpur
Slightly to the north of KL Sentral and close to the area of Chow Kit is Sogo Mall. Much more like the big department stores of Great Britain, the mall doesn’t have as many “individual” shops, but rather has large floors where each brand has its own section. The third floor proved most useful for us, having a Levi’s store to replace Ellie’s now yellow jeans, a Uniqlo to replace John’s ripped shorts and a large trainer department for John to grab some Skechers (his casual shoes were now nearly radioactive).
Downstairs there is a large food court and supermarket. We did use the supermarket once but found it quite expensive except for (bizarrely for Malaysia) the beer which was quite reasonably priced! If you’re looking for fresh fruit and vegetables, we’d recommend the 15 minute walk from Sogo to the:
Chow Kit Road Market
This was a true taste of Malaysian market mayhem.
Chow Kit Road Market is not where you go if you need a new fancy handbag, but is a cornucopia of beautiful fresh fruit, vegetables and every kind of meat and fish imaginable.
The entrance to this market is not for the faint of heart. Tightly packed rows of butchers and fishmongers with their fleshy wares displayed on ice that drips to the floor. Pass through this and you’ll come into the rainbow haven of the fruit and vegetable sellers. There was everything you could possibly need here, from shallots to mangos, kale to kumquats just make sure to barter.
Berjaya Times Square
A vast two towered mall, the Berjaya Times Square Mall is visible for miles around at night as it is lit up in neon lights. This mall intrigued us as it apparently housed one of the world's largest indoor theme parks and even included a rollercoaster!
We made our way there but were extremely underwhelmed. The mall seemed to consist of a strange mix of proprietary stores e.g. Levis, Adidas etc and then hundreds of stores selling factory knock offs. You wouldn’t think that Levis would particularly like selling their full priced goods next to a market vendor selling questionable copies of the same product.
The theme park is located on level 5. We can’t really give a fair review of it as we only walked far enough into it to see the 95RM per person price tag (75RM for Malaysians). We could see the rollercoaster and it was quite impressive, but not enough to cause us to part with our backpacking cash.
This mall might be a good shout if you’re travelling with children. The indoor theme park did look quite impressive and even includes a waterless aquarium?!
Sungei Wang Plaza
Entering through a large supermarket on the ground floor, as you climb the levels the shops seem to get sparser and sparser. At times it felt like we had walked onto the set of a zombie film or some post apocalyptic fallout game. Eventually the barren emptiness gave way to barbers, nail salons and anime figurine shops which made up Sungwei Wang Plaza.
We were here to visit the Miniature Malaysia exhibition, which, for a sizeable tourist attraction, proved very hard to find. Eventually after wandering through a rabbit warren of alternately populated and deserted areas of the mall, we followed signs to the JUMPA area and found the Miniature Malaysia exhibition. Focusing on Malaysia, its customs, food and architecture, we had a great time exploring the miniature worlds in this museum. Even if it is hidden away in a slightly odd shopping centre, we can highly recommend a visit, especially if you have children or are geeky enough like us.
Miniature Malaysia is so cute!
Plaza Low Yat
Proudly advertising as Malaysia’s biggest IT lifestyle mall, Plaza Low Yat is a mecca for all things gaming or electronic.
A cylindrical mall set over multiple stores, this mall had every kind of electronic imaginable (apart from the Amazon Kindle we were looking for!) from custom built computers, mobile phones, camera equipment and enough selfie sticks to photograph the Red Army.
If you did find yourself in Malaysia and needed a new graphics card, or more likely a specific camera part or USB cable, Plaza Low Yat would be a great place to head to.
The mall is also within walking distance of most of the other shopping complexes on this list.
Central Market
The Central Market of Kuala Lumpur is within easy walking distance of Chinatown, Masjid Jamek, the “River of Life” and Merdeka Square.
Don’t let the name fool you, this isn’t the “main market” of KL rather it is an arty, restored and repurposed market selling all manners of souvenirs, batik crafts and Malaysian mementos.
During the weekend the market spills out from its central hall and into the surrounding streets and there are plenty of good dining options available. If you’re flying out from KL and need some last minute gifts this would be the perfect stop off point.
Petaling Street Market, Chinatown - cheaper options / backpacker friendly shopping
The market of Petaling Street Market in Chinatown and the stalls around Masjid Jamek. If what you’re looking for is super cheap goods, shoes, watches, sunglasses or bags and you’re not overly concerned over the build quality or authenticity, then head to these markets. They’re crowded with sellers, all flogging “genuine” goods… we’re sure Louis Vuitton handbags all cost £5…
Personally we would recommend the market stores around Masjid Jamek as they seemed to be catering to local people who actually wanted to buy stuff to use rather than the much more tourist hub of Chinatown where the prices seemed to be higher and the vendors slightly shadier.
We’re long term backpacking and really do need to have good shoes and hard wearing clothes. KL was a brilliant place to refresh our clothes and we were reassured that what we were buying was real and hopefully wouldn’t be falling apart in the next few months. If it does fall apart we will definitely update this article to say so!
Enjoy your shopping and let us know what your favourite Kuala Lumpur mall is!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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