Malaysia — Johor Bahru — Johor Bahru City Square, 108 Jalan Wong Ah Fook, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Visiting a shopping mall in Johor Bahru
June 2015
OK, I am not a big fan of shopping or shopping malls. If I have to go shopping, I would rather spend my time poking around in a small shop or a market than go to a mall. But even I will admit that Malaysia tends to do big shopping malls very well. And two great examples are in the centre of Johor Bahru — the Johor Bahru City Square Mall (108 Jalan Wong Ah Fook, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia) and KOMTAR Johor Bahru City Centre (JBCC) Mall, which is next door.
Johor Bahru City Square has one of the hottest carpark I have ever visited. The carpark extends three floors below the mall and was always like an oven. By mid-afternoon, it was usually full.
One neat feature I liked in the carpark was the little lights above each parking bay. If the bay was empty, the light was green; if it was full, it was red. This simple system made parking so much easier, as I could spot the empty parking bays down the long rows by looking for a green light.
The mall is enormous, with five floors of shops (mainly clothing, restaurants, and hairdressers), with a cinema on the top floor.
More and more shops in the Johor Bahru City Square Mall.
Yep, even more shops.
One thing I didn't like about Johor Bahru City Square Mall was paying for the carpark. I had no problem with spending the money; physically handing over the cash was the problem.
Like many Malaysian carparks, the mall operated a card-in/card-out system. You collected a card on the way in, swiped the card and paid at a machine on the way out. The problem was that there were not enough machines in Johor Bahru City Square, and you often had a queue to pay for parking.
On one of my last visits to the Mall, I discovered that I could use my “Touch ’n’ Go” card (a card you top up with cash) at the barriers. Using my “Touch ’n’ Go” card made life so much easier, and I saved money, as I only paid for the exact time I was parked. The ticket machines charged to the nearest hour and would round up!
The Johor Bahru City Square Shopping Mall is big. Very big. It is not my favourite place in Johor Bahru as I don’t like shopping, but if you need to go to the shops, it is the place to go.
