Was coerced to be designated driver to Johor this time round (long story) for a business trip, which was just as well because the sibling would have hated that we stopped at the JOHOR PREMIUM OUTLETS before heading back to KL.
Got there via Kulai town, so we didn't try out the directions stated on the website.
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| Parking: Free at the moment. Just don't be like my dad and not take a ticket going in. Even after getting one from the Information Centre, he still lost that ticket too. Oh well. |
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| Bus schedule and fares from JB town to JPO |
First impression: Like how I remembered from way back when, where they were all spread out on ground level, JPO has two floors. Parking lot was nearly full, but we still found a place to park.
There were a lot of people for a Monday afternoon. But to be fair, it's currently the year end school holidays, so there were families about. I suspect it'll be worse the week before Christmas, and so on.
Here's a summary of what I saw and could still remember:
- Levi's Outlet Store: Busy like heck. Shelves were a little bare; there was a buy one, get the second pair for half price kinda thing going on... Didn't pay attention to the price.
- cK, DKNY: 50 - 70% off, but the only way I could buy anything from there is if there was a 90-95% discount :P
- Gap Outlet: the RM159 jeans mean very little as you could get this at the usual stores...if you live near one (or more), that is. Other pants were going for RM80 and above... etc etc. The staff were so busy they did not have time to put everything from the fitting rooms back out on the sales floor.. Was looking for white pants, didn't see any that I liked.
- Didn't go into the Coach or Michael Kors stores, even though they were next to each other. After hearing Michael Kors tokkok on Project Runway all these years, I have no real inclination to own anything with his name on it.
- Didn't make it into the Burberry store because there was a line to go in (crowd control) and I didn't exactly have the time to wait. Next time, perhaps?
- Brooks Brothers Factory Store still not open; I'm kinda hoping that they'll sell the women's range, or else I would be sorely disappointed.
- La Senza: RM50 for 10 panties (although it appears to be mostly of the butt crack floss variety, mileage may vary); I'm not sure if RM100 for 2 bras is a bargain anymore, so I didn't bother (edit: apparently it is [kinda] as it's RM149 for two bras).
- There were still a few stores not open (Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Brooks Brothers, etc); I also didn't go into the stores I normally see in the malls here.
- Shu Uemura cleansing oil going for RM230, for what appears to be the big bottle...
- If anyone's shopping for Skechers Shape Ups, ladies ones are going for RM199.
Overall: Not as cheap as US or what, but not too bad if you have little to no access to KL or PJ malls (?!)... I would have like to see more biggie names (oddly, no LV or Longchamp) or other factory outlet staples like Dockers, Kate Spade, Kenneth Cole, etc. It's safe to say that it won't be getting too much of my money in the long haul.. But it's worth going at least once as a shopaholics' road trip, especially if you're coming from KL..
All that said, I did actually buy something...
Also read in the business news that they're building a Phase 2, which I hope would improve over this.
If anyone else has been, let me know what you think.
PS. If you see a RM500 day trip tour to JPO from KL (found online), I would not suggest taking that up because it is way overpriced.
Also read in the business news that they're building a Phase 2, which I hope would improve over this.
If anyone else has been, let me know what you think.
PS. If you see a RM500 day trip tour to JPO from KL (found online), I would not suggest taking that up because it is way overpriced.
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