Jane E. Fraser

Kuala Lumpur shopping guide February 12, 2010

Kuala Lumpur is a hot shopping destination at the moment and people keep asking me for tips on where to go and what to buy. I recently spent a few days there doing nothing but shopping, so here are some personal recommendations:

The Pavilion

This is my favourite shopping centre in KL (maybe in the world). It’s fairly new and absolutely huge, with more than 400 shops, covering all price brackets. It’s got department stores, luxury brands, hip streetwear brands, cafes, restaurants, spa services, you name it. It also has a quirky ‘fish spa’ – more about that in a future post. What can I say, I could spend a fortune in this place.

1 Utama

This is a very groovy centre – and is in fact the favourite of a very fashion-conscious Kuala Lumpur local I know – but it is further out of town than many other options, so not many tourists make it there. It includes big-name department stores and six levels of specialty shops.

Sungei Wang Plaza

This place is so busy and noisy it makes my head spin, but it’s super cheap. Not always the place to go for quality, but certainly somewhere to pick up cheap clothes, shoes and gadgets, especially for the younger crowd. It has about 700 stores, spread over five levels, and one section is dedicated to up and coming local designers, so you can pick up something a bit different. Also check out the Vincci shoe store – not unique to this centre but so cheap and not bad quality for the money.

Low Yat Plaza

This is gadget heaven, although you need to have some idea about what you’re buying. There are floors and floors of mobile phones, computers, software, iPods and other IT products, but there are a lot of cheap copies, so check carefully. You also need to check that anything you buy is going to work in your home country.

Starhill Gallery

You need serious dosh to shop here – it is very exclusive, with every luxury brand you can think of. I find it rather staid and at times even intimidating, thanks to all the security guards standing outside shopfronts, but it’s a beautiful building – and the toilets are so cool!

Suria KLCC

This centre has plenty of good shops and is really conveniently located in the city centre, near the Twin Towers, but I found it somehow lacking in atmosphere. Major retailers here include the British Marks & Spencer and the Japanese department store Isetan, along with the Malaysian department store Parkson.

Petaling Street markets

At the opposite end of the scale to Starhill, these China Town street markets are cheap, busy, noisy and lots of fun. The quality varies enormously, but it’s possible to pick up super-cheap products that are as good as anything you would buy in a shop. A good place to buy T-shirts, DVDs, sunglasses, bags and wallets – be prepared to bargain.

Berjaya Times Square

You have to see this place to believe it; it is so big it includes a giant indoor theme park, a 48-lane bowling centre and nine cinemas. That’s before you even get to the hundreds of shops, cafes, restaurants and massive food hall. It seems to be a hang out for the young people of KL, but has shops for all ages, so long as you can stand the crowds.

* stay tuned for general shopping and bargaining tips

Copyright Jane E. Fraser