Woodbury Common comes to Kulai on 11-11-11

By NELSON BENJAMIN

nelson@thestar.com.my

JOHOR BARU: Shopping for branded products will be the attraction for visitors to Kulai after the Johor Premium Outlet (JPO) opens its doors on the auspicious date of Nov 11 or 11.11.11.

Designer brands like Burberry, Coach, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Armani, Canali, Ferragamo, Tod's, Zegna, Nike and Puma will be featured in the RM149mil outlet.

The outlet will be located on an 18ha site and will sell the products, which will be a season old, at 25% to 60% cheaper than the malls.

The project is a 50-50 joint venture between Genting's 54.6% owned subsidiary Genting Plantations Bhd and Premium Outlets, a division of US-based Simon Property Group.

The outlet is about 80% complete and is based on Simon's flagship Premium Outlet “Woodbury Common” just outside New York. There are 52 such outlets in the United States, Mexico, Japan and South Korea while the JPO would be the first in South-East Asia.

A purpose-built flyover is being completed on the Second Link to ensure a smooth connection from Singapore and the North-South Expressway.

Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the project would significantly increase the number of visitors to the state both from other states and from Singapore.

“The JPO construction is on schedule and it will open in the third quarter of the year as scheduled,” Ghani said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is scheduled to open the JPO and has indicated that it should be done on Nov 11 because of the auspicious date.

JPO director Datuk Justin Leong said the company planned to bus in visitors from all over Malaysia and Singapore, and use the Senai airport to bring in regional tourists from countries like Indonesia and Thailand.

“This is an exciting development for Johor and Malaysia as it will be a key driver for retail tourism.

This will also feature Iskandar Malaysia on the map,” he said.