1 Utama or One Utama is a shopping mall in Bandar Utama, Selangor, Malaysia, with an area of and containing 713 stores. It is the largest shopping mall in Malaysia and the seventh-largest shopping mall in the world. The first phase of the mall, now known as the "Old Wing", was opened in September 1995. With the increase in customer traffic and demand for retail spaces inside the mall, a second phase known as the "New Wing" was added in 2003. An additional expansion of was added in 2018 with the addition of 1 Utama E. Today the mall houses multiple retail areas, restaurants, cafes, sports facilities, a rainforest, and a bus station with national and international services. Current anchor tenants of the mall include; AEON, Parkson, Tangs and Isetan. The mall formerly housed the first IKEA store in Malaysia in 1996. The mall has received several awards including Gold in EdgeProp Malaysia’s Best Managed Property Awards 2019 and the Platinum Award for Shopping Complex of the Year in the Retail World Excellence Awards 2006/07 edition, and honored by CNN in 2014 as the fourth best shopping cities in the world.
History
In the 1990s, See Hoy Chan Holdings Group started developing a new town known as Bandar Utama that consists of residential and commercial area. Hence during the development of this town, there was a need for a mall in this township. The developer looked for inspiration for such a mall in the United States in 1993 before designing the first phase of the mall which is known as Old Wing today. As the developer believed that the mall should come with anchor tenants, the developer signed an agreement with AEON Corporation to open Jusco as the main tenant in the mall. Prior to opening of the mall, some customers were concerned that the ramp leading to the parking lot on the seventh floor was too steep, while others said that the incline was normal for malls in other countries, so it was not a big concern. The mall was officially opened in September 1995 and all the premises were fully rented by various tenants. The cost of the construction of the first phase of the mall costed RM89 million. The first IKEA store in Malaysia opened on April 25, 1996 in One Utama mall to overwhelmingly good reception of customers during the first few days of the opening. At the time, most of the IKEA products were made in Malaysia including dining tables, chairs, coffee tables, venetian blinds, cutting boards, toys and bed frames. The IKEA store covered of space inside the mall. Due to the increased demand of IKEA products, the store was relocated to Mutiara Damansara on August 14, 2003 which was bigger than the previous store and also becoming the largest IKEA store in Asia-Pacific during that time until it was surpassed by another store in Gwangmyeong, South Korea in 2014. As the mall experienced unprecedented growth which resulted in increased demand for retail spaces, the director of See Hoy Chan Holdings Group, Teo Chiang Kok, considered expanding the mall by building the second phase which is known as New Wing in order to further accommodate the increasing numbers of customers and retail lots which would cost RM300 million and increased the retail lot from 220 units to 600 units. The two blocks are now connected by a covered pedestrian bridge. The new section also includes an aviary, a zoo, a diving pool and a climbing wall. The mall soft-opened on December 13, 2003, with the grand opening taking place on April 2, 2004 by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah. The owner and management of this mall was transferred to Bandar Utama City Centre. The first renovation of the first phase took place in June 2011, 16 years after it opened, and costed RM160 million. The renovation included a relocation of Jusco supermarket to the new area, additions of cinema screens, and a new link to the 1 First Avenue office building. An additional expansion of the mall included the third phase which was constructed and opened on January 24, 2018. It features a surfing pool, a skydivingwind tunnel and several restaurants and cafes which aim to make the mall a multi-sport and entertainment venue alongside shopping. The mall will also bring 500 more parking bays as well as providing pedestrian access to Bandar Utama MRT station. The development of this phase costs RM150 million.
Features
1 Utama contains of retail space. Its 713 stores appeal to all economic strata, from department stores such as AEON, Parkson, Tangs and Isetan, to high-end international chains and multiple restaurants such as Food Republicfood court, Din Tai Fung, KFC, McDonald’s, Texas Chicken and Carl’s Jr and two cinema chains, TGV Cinemas and GSC Cinemas. This mall previously housed the first IKEA store in Malaysia, Cold Storage and MPH bookstore. Aside retail, 1 Utama offers sport amenities to the public including a bowling alley, baseball pitch, climbing wall, surfing pool and skydiving wind tunnel. The rainforest inside the mall was grown on October 25, 2003 by extracting a Tabebuia rosea tree from the nearby forest carried into the mall then planted along with 200 other species such as Alocasia, wild banana, Johanesteijsmannia, Aglaonema and Phyllagathis to make the forest look more realistic. The rainforest opened to the public in November 2003. As of 2019, the mall attracts more than 33 million visitors annually, with peak traffic occurring during the holiday season. The mall is connected to several major roads including Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong and Lebuh Bandar Utama. In addition to providing 14,000 parking bays for cars, the mall also provides bicycle parking. The car park is also equipped with electric vehicle charging points. The mall is accessible via public transport, including MRT via Bandar Utama MRT station or vis buses from RapidKL bus service. 1 Utama also serves as a bus station for multiple bus services such as Aeroline, First Coach, Genting Express and the 1 Utama shuttle bus service that transports passengers to other major cities in Malaysia including Penang and Genting Highlands, and Singapore.
Incidents
Fires
There were two fires that broke out in the mall. The first fire was on February 25, 2013 which started in a storage facility in the children’s playground equipment store which caused the whole building to experience a power outage. The second fire occurred on July 11, 2014 when the fire broke out from the kitchen of one of the restaurants. Both fires were minor, and no casualties were reported.
Crime
In response to the abduction of Canny Ong in a shopping center in Bangsar which led to her death on June 13, 2003, many shopping malls in Klang Valley strengthened their security in order to protect their customers, including One Utama shopping mall where the management deployed additional policemen, guard dogs and security guards to patrol the mall. Despite this, there were several false alarms when some customers reported to police that their cars were stolen, when in fact the customers forgot where they had parked their cars. During Chinese New Year in 2014, a robber stole jewellery worth RM10 million in one of the jewellery shops. The heist was planned by a Latin American gang in advance before executing the robbery, including hiding inside the mall as it closes, cutting off electricity, disabling the burglar alarm system, stole CCTV recording units and melting safe doors using an oxy acetylene torch. One of the shoppers illegally parked on the roadside near the shopping mall and was issued a fine by police on February 28, 2018. Other parking violations includes parking space hogging, an illegal car parking space reservation where a person would stand on an empty parking space, waiting for the driver to come. These incidents were frequently reported by other drivers as “stealing the parking bays from customers”.
