In 2017, there are 3 new hip malls being added to Johor Bahru: – they were Paradigm Mall, Ikea Mall and Dato Onn Aeon. They have added more vibrancy to the JB shopping scene for Singaporeans. As these places are not reachable by foot, will highlight how to get there as well. First, have your mobile phone installed with Grab App beforehand. One tip is, once you cross the causeway, go and buy a prepaid (pre-paid) SIM card with internet (like DIGI or Maxis). I normally buy DIGI prepaid SIM card, RM 20 with 2 months expiry , because there seem to be more DIGI outlets. Make sure the store set the card for Internet usage for you (one store did not set for us, leaving us to hang high and dry when we tried to hail Grab taxi elsewhere).
Let’s check the Malls out:
Paradigm Mall (Address: Jalan Skudai, 81200 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia)
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm daily.
Getting there: Once you cross to JB, you can hail a Grab Taxi to Paradigm Mall (it costs me RM 19 from Jln Wong Ah Fook to Paradigm Mall). Alternatively, there are many buses that departs from JB Sentral bus interchange that brings you to and from Paradigm mall.
By far, Paradigm has been rated as the largest shopping mall in Johor Bahru with 1.3 million sq ft of retail space. Just to highlight, this Mall is about 20 mins away from Woodlands Causeway Point, Quite a few Grab drivers shared with us that the road just outside Paradigm Mall is usually choked with traffic jam as it is located along Skudai Highway.
So far this is one of our new favorite must-stop shopping mall. There is always a lot of activities going on, and a lot of promotions. There are too many fashion retail shops and food eateries, I can only name a few below. Please go to their website if you are looking for any particular shops.
The anchor tenant in Paradigm Mall is Parkson.
At Level 7, there is Golden Screen Cinema, the largest Cinema in Johor.
At Level 3, there is a large indoor “Blue ice skating rink“, there is also Popular Bookstore and Daiso.
At Level 1, there is SDS Restaurant, they just revamped their menu beginning of the year and increased the price. Just look out for the “Kids eat for Free” on weekday promotion. On the 15th every month, they have have the SDS Member Day, where a few selected dishes have 50% off (for one dish if you have one card). Besides SDS Restaurant, there is “The New Market” which is kind of cool, they sell a lot of night market stuff here at a low price.
At Level UG, there is Bao Zhan (包栈). This outlet is different from their other outlets, there are 2 old chefs working here in an open kitchen concept. The quality of their Glutinous rice with chicken (Lo Mai Gai/Lo Mai Kai) and Siew Mai here is much higher then normal outlets. I tried their set meal or value meal, the teh (or tea) is a let down. They just give you tea bag, packet sugar and packet creamer. There is also our favorite Baskin Robbins. There is this flavor of the month, where you can get Free Upsizefrom Single regular to Double junior for RM 11 (meaning you get 2 scoops of ice-cream, one scoop is flavour of the month plus another scoop of your choice). Or you can save RM 3 off on your ice-cream if you have a kid 12-year and below on Weekdays.
Level G, you have Typo, Gong Cha just to name a few. Opposite Gong Cha is a new stall Liang Sandwich Bar (糧全其美) whose spokesperson is Jay Chou, their sandwich is really the Chinese style Prata with selection of meat to sandwich in between the prata. There was a queue outside the stall when I reached. The Village Grocer (Supermarket) is also located at this level, they have a wide selection of fresh produce and food products. Another stall, the Nyonya Sisters offers local kuehs and stuff.
Ikea Tebrau (Address: 33 Jalan Harmonium, Taman Desa Tebrau, Johor Baru) + Aeon Tebrau
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm (Sundays to Thursdays), 10am to 11pm (Fridays, Saturdays, public holidays, eves of public holidays and replacement holidays which fall on Mondays).
Getting there: There is free shuttle bus daily to and from JB Sentral to IKEA Tebrau (and also to and fro from Larkin and IKEA Tebrau).
From JB Sentral to IKEA Tebrau: Boarding location is at Bus stop in front of KTM Johor Bahru, along Jalan Tun Abdul Razak. Departure time: 9am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm 7pm, 9pm.
From IKEA Tebrau to JB Sentral: Boarding location is at IKEA Tebrau. Departure time (Sun to Thurs): 10am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 8pm, 10pm. Departure time (Fri & Sat): 10am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm, 8pm, 10pm, 11pm.
One fact that you must know – Ikea Tebrau is the biggest Ikea store in South-east Asia.
Initially I was not too keen to go to Ikea, as my impression was how am I going to tug back the furniture back to Singapore? But after I visited Ikea, I am very certain that I will be back again. When I reached Ikea, we bought their famous ice-cream cone for RM 1. Then we adjourned to the Restaurant for early lunch. The Restaurant was huge and spacious, they even have sofa areas (if you go early enough) for you to sit comfortably for food. Another important thing to note is, they offer free high speed Wifi. The food quality here is good and price is reasonable. We bought 4 chicken wings for RM 11.50 (6 chicken wings will cost RM 16.50), Mee Siam with spicy chicken for RM 5.50, Apple Juice (sugar free) cost RM 2.70. For the chicken wings, they were freshly fried and placed on a tray for customers to pick and choose how many wings they want.
Due to the attractive exchange rates, we were surprised that we actually bought quite a bit of household items from Ikea.
After shopping at Ikea, we crossed the road and continue our shopping at Aeon Tebrau. The road closer to Aeon has super high traffic even on a weekday, please be patient and be careful when crossing the road. This Aeon Mall is a bit old, but is still refreshing to shop there, we still bought quite a bit of things before heading home. There is also a lot of eateries if you are hungry.
Dato Onn Aeon (Address: Jln Dato’ Onn 3, Kawasan Perindustrian Tebrau 3, 81100 Johor Bahru)
Opening hours: (Sun – Thu) 10.00am – 10.00pm. (Thu – Fri & PH) 10.00am – 111.00pm
Getting there: You can goto www.easybook.com.sg to book your ticket for shopping trip from Singapore to Dato Onn Aeon on Sat and Sun only. 1 way cost S$8 (UP $12), 2 way cost S$16 (UP S$24). Pick up Point: 8am Tampines MRT, 8.30am Punggol MRT to Aeon. Return: 6.30pm (Sat)/7pm (Sun) to Punggol MRT then Tampines MRT. 7.30pm (Sat) / 8pm (Sun) to Punggol MRT then Tampines MRT.
Alternatively, you can call the Grab taxi from City Square to Dato Onn Aeon. I could not remember the price, but as the distance is further, it could cost over RM20 per trip.
The Mall is just opened in September 2017. The Mall’s design is full of Teddy Bears, very refreshing. 
On ground level, they have a huge Aeon Supermarket, with a “food street” with lot of ready-to-eat food (like sushi, Japanese bento, barbecue food, fried food, etc) tempting you just before you enter the Supermarket. There’s also the Aeon Wellness Store (selling things like Watson) on ground level near the Supermarket. The Aeon Mall has 3 levels of shopping, wide variety of selections.
On the 3rd floor, they have a huge Kidzoona (playground for kids) where my kid enjoys tremendously (Weekday RM 15 per pax; Fri/Sat/Sun/Public Holiday RM 20 per pax. Only pay for children, parents are free. If you did not bring your socks, you will have to buy from them. Outside Kidzoona is a large gaming arcade. There is another gaming arcade on the same level.
On the 3rd level, there are also a lot of food eateries on this level, like Sushi King, Oleg, Nyonya Leaf, The Manhattan Fish Market, The Original Boat Noodle, Zhou Xing Xing, Ichiban Ramen, Dubuyo, Kuu by Tea Garden, Arashi Shabu-Shabu . We tried the food at Zhou Xing Xing (this shop has nothing to do with Stephen Chow), their noodle with Char Siu and Siu Yuk is delicious, I especially love their barbecued crispy pork. We also tried their Chendol, they put roasted peanuts on ice, which turned out surprisingly crispy and yummy. We also eat at Kuu by Tea Garden, the food is so-so, quality not as good as those at Tea Garden outlets. There is also a “hawker centre” concept of food stalls inside Food Avenue on this level.
By the way, we saw there is free Wifi in the Mall. As our prepaid SIM card’s internet is not working, we tried to use the Mall’s free Wifi, it was not working. We were told by their Customer Service that their network server is down, hope this is once-off.
Hope you have a fun time at these Malls….. !