My Vizard

At the district level, a few areas clearly dominate Malaysia’s shopping mall landscape:

• W.P. Kuala Lumpur: 19% of all malls nationwide.
• Petaling (Selangor): 11% of the national total, led by busy hubs like Subang Jaya (E.g. Sunway Pyramid) and Petaling Jaya.
• Kuching (Sarawak): 33 outlets, making up about 8%, for example: AEON Mall Kuching Central and Boulevard Shopping Mall.
• Johor Bahru (Johor): Strong presence, following closely behind Kuching, Sarawak. Some notable malls include Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru and Mid Valley Southkey
• Timur Laut (Pulau Pinang): Notable cluster in George Town and surrounding areas. (E.g: Gurney Plaza)

Selangor may lead the country in shopping mall numbers, but the distribution within the state is far from equal. Petaling alone contributes the largest share, making up 51% of Selangor’s malls, led by busy hubs like like Subang Jaya and Petaling Jaya. Ulu Langat and Klang follow, reflecting their dense populations and commercial activity.

On the other end, Sepang, Gombak, Kuala Selangor and Kuala Langat each record fewer than 10 malls, while Sabak Bernam and Ulu Selangor still has none.

Kuching emerges as one of the leading districts nationwide, recording 33 malls (56% of Sarawak’s total).

In contrast, other Sarawak districts such as Miri (14% of Sarawak’s malls), Bintulu (12%), and Sibu (10%) record far fewer malls compared to Kuching. Samarahan, Sri Aman and Limbang each have fewer than 10 malls, while most other districts still have none.

Counting shopping malls is one thing, but how close they are to one another? By measuring the median nearest-neighbour distance between malls within each district, we can see which areas are the most tightly packed.

How to read this: In Timur Laut (Pulau Pinang), the typical distance between shopping malls is just 0.18 km.

Districts/or states with only one mall (such as W.P. Labuan) are excluded from this graph, since nearest-neighbour distances can’t be calculated.