SETIA ALAM (June 30): Setia City Mall (SCM) is nearly 90% occupied, with footfall also increased to about 60% compared to 2019 due to the mall's expansion that went from 740,000 sq ft to its current 1.18 million sq ft of net lettable area (NLA).

This was revealed during the 10-year anniversary celebration of SCM on Thursday (June 30). The mall is jointly developed by S P Setia Bhd and Asian Retail Investment Fund (ARIF), a Lendlease managed fund.

As the economy reopens and more people are coming back to malls, SCM’s management has put in efforts in supporting their retailers.

“We based our [strategy] on communication, spending a lot of time talking with retailers. We had to shift quickly into providing delivery online services. That evolution of omnichannel sales dealt with the period of the pandemic. But as we come out, the key to the success of a retail asset is building confidence in the community, confidence in safety not only security safety but also health and wellbeing safety,” said Lendlease Malaysia project director, The Exchange TRX and head of retail Mitchell Wilson at the press conference on Thursday.

Setia City Mall celebrates its 10th year in operations and now boasts 1.18 million sq ft of net lettable area, making it the largest mall in Shah Alam (Photo by Low Yen Yeing/The Edge)

They adjusted their marketing budget to accommodate the changes in the market and the mall to about 90%, although the exact figure spent is kept under wraps. Wilson also added that the mall, which is now the largest in Shah Alam, has about 20% of the space allocated to F&B. The selection of which F&B outlets to include in the mall was garnered by research from customers.

S P Setia also revealed that in addition to SCM, they will also be opening a new mall in September.

“We just completed a new mall in Semenyih called EcoHill Walk. There are three components there, [over 200] shops, the mall and later the [two blocks of] residences… We target to open the mall on Sept 1. The gross built-up is over 200,000 sq ft and we have managed to lease out two-thirds of it. We target 80% occupancy by the end of the year,” said S P Setia Bhd executive vice president Datuk Tan Hon Lim.

Meanwhile, to engage with the community in Setia Alam and neighbouring areas, SCM has planned several activities in the month of July. There will be lucky draw prizes worth up to RM50,000 when visitors spend RM380 in two or one same-day receipts, receive special jersey and mug gifts with purchase and Happy Treats for children of I Love SCM members. There is also a dance competition “Show Us Your Move Contest”.

On July 30 there will also be the Setia City Mall Run with visitors able to ride in hot air balloons for a view of the township.

SCM is situated in Setia Alam, S P Setia’s township development that was launched in 2004. There are 22,000 households with a population of about 90,000. SCM was opened 2012 with only 740,000 sq ft of NLA with 235 outlets. Today, it has 329 retail outlets with Lulu’s Hypermarket as one of the anchor tenants in the new expansion building.