Jaya Shopping Centre occupies a singular place in Malaysian retail history.
It is not the largest mall in Greater Kuala Lumpur. It is not the most architecturally impressive.
But in one specific and extraordinary way, it stands alone: Jaya Supermarket, built in 1974, was the first shopping complex in Petaling Jaya — Malaysia’s premier satellite city — predating the municipality’s city status by 32 years.
When Jaya opened its doors half a century ago, Petaling Jaya was still a young, growing township of rubber estates and government housing schemes. Jaya was there from the beginning.
Located at Section 14, Petaling Jaya — one of PJ’s most established residential neighbourhoods — Jaya Shopping Centre today is a seven-storey suburban retail destination, reopened on 28 April 2014 after a dramatic five-year redevelopment journey.
It is owned by Mapletree Investments, one of Asia’s leading real estate investment managers.
Petaling Jaya, A city in Selangor with 807,879 residents (January 2024) across 97.2 km², established 1954 as a British-planned satellite township on the Effingham Estate near Old Klang Road, granted city status on 20 June 2006.
Nicknamed PJ and the Crape Myrtle City (Bandar Raya Inai Merah).
Today PJ is surrounded by Kuala Lumpur (east), Sungai Buloh (north), Shah Alam and Subang Jaya (west), and Puchong (south).
The first two roads built were Jalan 1 (later Jalan Templer) and Jalan 2 (Jalan Othman).
1974 — Jaya Supermarket Opens as PJ’s First Shopping Complex
Before Jaya Supermarket, Petaling Jaya had no dedicated retail destination. Residents shopped at local markets, provision shops, and stalls.
The arrival of Jaya Supermarket in 1974 was, by the standards of the time, a revelation — an air-conditioned, multi-tenant retail building where residents could buy groceries, watches, gold jewellery, and enjoy a meal at the Cable Car restaurant, famous for its beef stroganoff.
It was, for a generation of PJ residents, a glimpse of urban modernity.
Over the next three and a half decades, Jaya Supermarket became woven into the fabric of PJ’s Section 14 community.
It was a place for Saturday afternoon outings, for watch shopping at Hing’s Watch, for ear and nose piercing at Poh Kong Jewellers, for the irresistible smell of Famous Amos cookies drifting through the building, and for browsing the Famous Amos display along the grand spiralling staircase.
The staircase itself was a landmark — covered in archival photographs showing how Jaya had looked since the 1970s, turning a shopping trip into a journey through the neighbourhood’s history.
On getting piercings: Lee Chen-Yoong, 30, a former SMK Sultan Abdul Samad student: “I pierced my ears without my parents’ knowledge while my friend pierced his nose at one of the push-cart stalls in Jaya Supermarket.” Yasmin Ahmad, 25: “I still wear the Tissot that my parents gave me for my 14th birthday — from Hing’s Watch.”
On Famous Amos and the staircase: N. Theresa: “I was treated to Famous Amos cookies after piercing my ears for the first time at Poh Kong. That distinct aroma wafted through the building, right along a grand spiralling stairway that held pictures of Jaya Supermarket from the 1970s.”
On the Cable Car restaurant: Yasmin Ahmad: “The Cable Car restaurant served good beef stroganoff.”
On book launches: A journalist recalled the launch of Tunku Abdul Rahman’s book on Malaysian history at Jaya Supermarket — a civic occasion in PJ’s community life.
On dental check-ups: Lim C.Y. went to Jaya for braces and retainer appointments during primary school.
These are the memories of a mall that was genuinely central to a community’s daily life.
The Dramatic Collapse — May 2009
By 2008, Jaya Supermarket had been marked for a full redevelopment.
The building had served for over 34 years and had undergone several facelifts, but the time had come for something new.
Construction began in 2008. Then, on 28 May 2009 — during the demolition process — the building collapsed.
The dramatic collapse, captured in local news reports, was the end of an era. For a moment, the building that had defined Section 14 for 35 years was simply gone.
The collapse delayed the project significantly.
The new Jaya Shopping Centre would not open its doors until 28 April 2014 — five years after the building fell.
Jaya Shopping Centre Reborn — 28 April 2014
When Jaya Shopping Centre reopened on 28 April 2014, it was a transformed asset.
The new mall is a seven-storey suburban retail centre with more than 180 retail lots across multiple themed zones.
It secured over 80% tenant occupancy by opening day.
The new interior is designed on a “race course” layout — a deliberate architectural reference to the original Jaya — giving shoppers excellent visibility of all outlets from every vantage point.
Five basement floors provide 780 parking bays, accessed via well-planned ingress and egress lanes on Jalan 14/17 and Jalan Dato Jamil Rais 15.
Significantly, approximately 30% of the original Jaya Supermarket tenants returned to the new mall — a remarkable act of loyalty and continuity.
These included the iconic brands that had defined the old Jaya experience. The remaining 70% were new tenants bringing fresh concepts to the reimagined centre.
The Tenants — Old & New
Returning iconic tenants from Jaya Supermarket (1974):
• Nelson’s Corn-In-A-Cup — Introduced in 1985 by Datuk Nelson Kwok; a beloved Jaya institution; founder described it as having “strong memory ties with the local community”
• Hing’s Watch — Founded by Yee Wah Hing; director Jack Yee said Jaya was his “playground while his parents ran the watch store”
• Poh Kong Jewellers — A jewellery institution at Jaya since the 1970s
• Cold Storage — The first Cold Storage in Petaling Jaya was at Jaya Supermarket
• MPH Bookstore — Another Jaya original that later flourished across Greater KL
New anchor tenants (2014):
• TGV Cinemas — Eight-screen cineplex
• Adidas, Best Denki, The Body Shop, CIMB Bank, Chili’s Grill & Bar, Brewball Pool & Karaoke, Toys ‘R Us, Original Classics, Cobay, Cold Storage
Smaller retail units (13.9–63.17 sqm) on upper floors were designed to provide affordable platforms for new entrepreneurs — a deliberate echo of the push-cart stalls that made the original Jaya so lively.
The Section 14 Neighbourhood & Connectivity
Section 14, Petaling Jaya is one of PJ’s oldest and most characterful neighbourhoods — a mature residential area of landed properties, low-rise flats, and quiet tree-lined streets.
Jaya Shopping Centre sits at the intersection of Jalan 14/17 and Jalan Dato Jamil Rais 15, with direct access to Petaling Jaya’s road network.
The layout was consciously designed to ease traffic — a perennial concern in PJ’s dense residential fabric.
Connectivity is excellent.
The Federal Highway (Route 2) is minutes away, connecting Section 14 to Kuala Lumpur to the east and Klang/Shah Alam to the west.
The Kuala Lumpur – Port Klang railway line via the nearby Pantai Dalam KTM station provides rail access, and the Kelana Jaya Line at Taman Paramount LRT station and Asia Jaya LRT station are within reach.
The New Pantai Expressway (NPE) and the Damansara–Puchong Expressway (LDP) offer additional routes.
Section 14 is also well-served by PJ city buses connecting to the Klang Valley’s wider transit network.
Key Facts at a Glance
| Address | Section 14, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 3°06′32.2″N 101°38′13.5″E |
| Developer | Jaya Section 14 Sdn Bhd |
| Owner | Mapletree Investments |
| Original Opening | 1974 (Jaya Supermarket — PJ’s first shopping complex) |
| Redevelopment Began | 2008 |
| Building Collapse | 28 May 2009 (during demolition) |
| Reopening | 28 April 2014 (Certificate of Completion: March 2014) |
| Total Floors | 7 storeys + 5 basement carpark floors |
| Retail Lots | 180+ lots across themed zones |
| Car Park Bays | 780 (across 5 basement levels) |
| Cinema | TGV Cinemas — 8 screens |
| Opening Occupancy | Over 80% |
| Former Tenant Return Rate | ~30% (Nelson’s Corn-In-A-Cup, Hing’s Watch, Poh Kong, Cold Storage, MPH) |
| Major Roads | Federal Highway (Route 2) · NPE · LDP |
| Nearest Rail | KTM KD07 Pantai Dalam · MRT KB07 Taman Paramount (Kajang Line) |
Conclusion — A Mall That Rose from Its Own Rubble
Jaya Shopping Centre is in the most literal sense a phoenix mall.
It was born in 1974 as Jaya Supermarket — the first shopping complex in a township that had barely existed a decade earlier.
For 35 years, it was the heartbeat of Section 14’s community — the place where a generation of PJ residents got their first watches, their first piercings, their first tastes of Famous Amos cookies, and their first glimpses of a larger urban world.
The grand spiralling staircase with its photographs of Jaya in the 1970s was not just decoration; it was a physical archive of community memory.
Then, on 28 May 2009, the building collapsed. For five years, Section 14 had to live without its mall.
The reopening on 28 April 2014 was therefore not merely a commercial event — it was a community reunion. The fact that Nelson’s Corn-In-A-Cup, Hing’s Watch, Poh Kong, Cold Storage, and MPH Bookstore returned to the new centre was not coincidence.
It was the deliberate continuity of relationships that had been built over decades.
Today, Mapletree Investments manages a modern seven-storey suburban mall that honours its heritage without being imprisoned by it.
The “race course” layout, the returning tenants, the affordable small retail units on upper floors — all of these are deliberate acts of memory.
For Petaling Jaya residents of a certain age, Jaya is not just a mall. It is a living memory — one that literally rose from its own rubble, stronger and more modern, ready for the next generation.