Parkson to close its Suria KLCC outlet

Department store is having a ‘moving out sale’ until Feb 17

PETALING JAYA: The Parkson group, which has been streamlining its presence in Malaysia over the past year, is closing its outlet in Suria KLCC after two decades.

In a notice on its Facebook page yesterday, the Malaysian department-store operator said it was having a “moving out sale” at its KLCC outlet until Feb 17, emphasising that “everything must go.”

The three-level, 126,000 sq ft outlet opened in 1998 and was one of Suria KLCC’s earliest tenants. At press time, the company was not able to revert to queries from StarBiz on reasons for its closure.

An industry observer who requested anonymity claimed that Suria KLCC is constantly looking to diversify its tenant mix and wanted back the lot that Parkson occupied.

“From what I understand, Parkson did not want to move out and were keen to maintain a presence in Suria KLCC.”

In 2016, home-grown lifestyle boutique BritishIndia lost its legal bid to continue operating at its premises on the first floor of Suria KLCC.

The High Court dismissed a suit by the boutique’s owner BTC Clothier Sdn Bhd to continue operating in the prime location, finding that the termination of its tenancy was legal.

According to reports, BTC Clothier’s founder, Liew Yam Ngoon, had alleged that Suria KLCC’s action against the company gave the impression that it was discriminating against Malaysian brands.

In its counter claim, Suria KLCC stated that the tenancy agreement had expired and it gave BritishIndia no option to renew.

Suria KLCC also claimed it had no desire to keep BritishIndia as a tenant, and that the offer to relocate was merely to give it an opportunity to continue doing business.

Parkson currently has more than 100 stores in the region and over 40 in Malaysia, occupying a total of five million sq ft.

Last year, the company closed its 220,000 sq ft Maju Junction outlet located at the Jalan Sultan Ismail-Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman intersection. It was an anchor tenant of the mall and started operating there in 2014.

The group also shut down its 107,000 sq ft Sungei Wang Plaza outlet which it opened in 1987, as well as the Parkson Flemington outlet in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Following the closures, a company spokesperson was quoted by StarBiz as saying that the closures were necessary due to changing market dynamics.