Kuala Lumpur
Shopping

You've come to the right place!

The Kuala Lumpur shopping is not overrated...

This capital has shopping to suit anyone's taste, and the variety of items will just blow you away!

You will stumble upon huge shopping malls, small and big markets and hundreds of shops.

For budget to mid-priced shopping, go to Petaling Street and Central Market in Chinatown.

If you're up for large malls and mid-priced shopping, head for Bukit Bintang in the Golden Triangle.

I'm going to start with Chinatown where most of the backpackers go shopping!

Chinatown

Petaling Market

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Petaling Market

Choose from fake branded watches, purses, bags, jewellery, shoes, t-shirts (sports and ordinary), dresses, toys, perfume imitations, flowers and so much more.

The sellers constantly yell out:

"Want to take a look madam?"

"Yes, come in here sir!"

"Watches for you?"

It's like a meat market, where the buyers are the meat. But if you say no, they won't bother you anymore.

The market starts early from 9 or 10 am, and even more stalls are set up around 6 pm. The alleys along Petaling Street get narrower and narrower, and slow queues build up. To avoid these queues, you should walk behind the stalls along the ordinary shops.

You should bargain because the items are way overpriced. The sellers can add 20-50% more to the ordinary price.

Well, we tried to bargain on a fake branded Nike watch which my boyfriend wanted. But it was hard to get a decent discount. Rough Guides were right
-- you can try to bargain, but not too much.

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Central Market

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Central Market -- image credit: Flickr.com

But I wouldn't call Central Market a market. It's more like a market built inside a light-blue mall and it's air-conditioned.

Central Market has two floors. First floor is where all the good stuff is, while you'll find a food court on the second floor and local shops selling Batik and handicrafts.

Whatever you're looking for, you will most likely find it!

You can buy t-shirts, flip-flops, toys, jewellery, souvenirs, Batik, handicrafts, antiques like Buddha statues, paintings (from mainly Malaysia, China and Middle East), spa products, electronics, dry food etc.

When it comes to bargaining, you can try it out but I wouldn't hope for large discounts. We found it hard to bargain at Central Market. I mean, this place is visited by tourists 24-7, so the sellers think that their products will be sold anyway (if you don't buy it).

Our shopping results were singing bowls from Tibet (135 RM), silk paintings from China (small: 38-58 RM, medium: 100 RM, large: 168-190 RM), a bracelet for mom (49 RM at Borneo Pearls), marble stamps with Chinese prints (23 for the tiny ones and 120 RM for the larger ones), red stamp pad (small: 6 RM, big: 30 RM), wooden chests (168 RM), jewellery pendants made of stone from China (120 RM).

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Golden Triangle

Bukit Bintang is the main shopping area in Golden Triangle, while other malls and shops are located on Sultan Imbi and Sultan Ismail.

BB Plaza

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Bb Plaza -- image credit: Backpackingmalaysia.com

Looking for clothing, shoes, electronics, and DVD's? -- They've got it!

Clothing starts from RM 9.90, shoes from RM 15 and pirate DVD's and CD's usually cost RM 10.

And remember to look out for scratches on the DVD/CD before buying. Since they are pirate copies, the quality can be poor.

To maximize the chances of getting good quality, choose older films that have already been released on DVD instead of the movies that are still in the cinemas.

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Sungei Wang Plaza

Sungei Wang has basically the same things as BB Plaza!

I was looking for make-up and a new perfume and went to Parkson Grand. I was asking for Versace, but the guy at the Gucci desk followed me around, asking if we wanted help like 7 times. I haven't experienced that much stalking in the stores since the Philippines.

Well, this persistent, yet nice sales man kept following us. And since I didn't find what I was looking for, he immediately went: "Try Gucci!"

Yep, I was sold.

The new Gucci perfume for women cost RM 321 included free shower gel, cream and a tiny party-bottle. And boyfriend bought the new Gucci perfume for men (RM 273) included all the same extras.

I love FREE extras! Don't you? ;)

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Berjaya Times Square

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Berjaya Times Square

It was another day in paradise!

When I showed the pictures from Times Square to my girlfriends, they were like: "Wow, I should have been there!"

Times Square is the shopping Mecca for local teenagers, travelers and tourists. I think that Times Square should suit for backpacker families as well because it has an amusement park inside the mall.

The cheap and endless variety of clothing, shoes, and accessories will force you to stay there the entire day, if not several days!

You will find local brands, Asian brands, international labels and stalls. My favourite shop was the lingerie shop called Blush. And other shops like Nichii sell cheap clothing for women, while Tropical Life has more hip colorful clothes for both male and female. And the famous Echo Park has hip-hopper t-shirts and some clothing in skater style.

If you're looking for extreme clothing design, I can guarantee you that the shop Extreme lives up to its name...

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Low Yat

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Low Yat Plaza

Low Yat is every man's wet dream...

...It's better than Christmas Day...

...It's better than the first time you had sex...

...whatever electronic equipment you're looking for, it's all there!

Since my relationship with my boyfriend is all about compromise, we (he) decided to visit the 7 storey-mall of electronic goods. Well, I'm a good girlfriend, so what a heck. Why not! He did follow me through lingerie and women shops the whole day ;-)

So this is what you get:

Wherever you look, you'll see stands of computers and laptops in all brands, sizes and prices:

HP, Lenovo, Mac, Sony, Acer, Asus etc.

If you need a new camera, you won't be disappointed either. Canon and Nikon are largely represented. I even bought a small, light tripod for my Canon camera (15 RM).

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Pavilion

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Pavilion

I have to admit that I fell in love with a gorgeous sling bag designed by Gucci, which I saw in the window. I wanted to check out the price, so I could just know what it costs... I know, I'm crazy for torturing myself!

But we felt that weren't dressed up for the occasion, so I just walked away -- dreaming of becoming a millionaire one beautiful sunny day.

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: I want that Gucci bag!

Pavilion has other popular brands which are more affordable, like Spanish Zara and Mango, Top Shop, Nike, Adidas, Paul Frank, La Senza, Juicy Couture, Naf Naf, The Body Shop, Forever 21, Levi's and more.

We were exhausted that day and took a break from the shopping and sat down at Godiva.

Their chocolate pieces are to die for
(5 pieces = 6.38 RM)!

To enhance the taste, drink cappuccino or espresso (13 RM). The chocolates are perfectly made in original shapes, and it had this intense flavoring.

My boyfriend wanted even more chocolate and ordered a brownie covered in dark chocolate (40 RM). Exquisite (as they call it)!

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Lot 10

Kuala Lumpur Shopping: Lot 10

But there were almost no people at the mall. So I sensed that it wasn't as popular as Pavilion.

The only shop we stopped by was Top Shop, and then we had a coffee at Jackie Chan's Cafe (cappuccino: 8.50 RM, espresso: 7.50 RM) and that was it!

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My Kuala Lumpur Shopping results....

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