The Starhill Steps Up Arts, Culture, & Style Credentials in Home of The Tastemakers

The Starhill has brought its vision of being "Home of the Tastemakers" to life, offering refined experiences with a constant menu of engaging activities to establish its position as a key nexus of creativity, culture and style within the city centre’s renowned Bukit Bintang shopping belt. Completing the transformation of the iconic 7-storey lifestyle destination, anchor tenant eslite spectrum, the new KL’s Living Room, has finally opened its doors, joining a host of distinctive luxury brands and concept stores not found elsewhere in Malaysia. 

The Starhill Steps Up Arts, Culture, & Style Credentials in Home of The Tastemakers

Presenting a new concept that infuses hospitality into the retail experience – where patrons are cocooned in a warm, intimate boutique environment that exudes a home-like sense of place, The Starhill is a refined and tasteful haven where all touches are carefully curated and crafted for the discerning. Bucking the typical mall developer’s philosophy of ‘bigger is better’, The Starhill is boutique-sized at 300,000 square feet of retail space, of which more than 92% of retail space is already tenanted, with 30% taken up by F&B establishments. 

The entrance of eslite spectrum Kuala Lumpur, the first eslite flagship store in Southeast Asia

The Starhill is uniquely distinguished by four floors of experiential retail space and three upper floors of 160 new hotel rooms of over 60 m2 each by JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur. Combined with rooms in the rest of JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur and The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur, a total of 1,100 rooms is seamlessly connected to the retail floors. With the largest number of hotel rooms integrated in a vertical development mall, The Starhill is a one-of-its-kind retail destination in Malaysia.

eslite spectrum, which offers books of various languages, as well as creative designs, lifestyle trends, performing arts and exhibitions, themed restaurants and cafes, and handicrafts

“The Starhill’s success is built on our meticulous curation of unique labels and concept stores that are one-of-its-kind in Malaysia. Over 70% of our retail spaces are taken up by such distinctive offerings.  Our focus is to offer a holistic experience that goes beyond retail and dining, encapsulated in an intimate space with a sense of familiarity where patrons can escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. This reinforces The Starhill as the place to be in Bukit Bintang, especially following the unveiling of eslite spectrum after a two-year journey setting up this creative arts and cultural destination,” said Mr Joseph Yeoh, Vice President of YTL Land & Development Bhd.

eslite spectrum Kuala Lumpur opened on 17 December with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by (L-R) Mr Ching Her Wo, Board Member of eslite Corporation; Mr Jack Lee, Chief Executive Officer of eslite Corporation; Ms Anne Hung, representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia; Ms Mercy Wu, Chairperson of eslite Corporation; Tan Sri (Sir) Francis Yeoh, Executive Chairman of YTL Corporation; Dato’ Mark Yeoh, Executive Director of YTL Hotels & Properties; and Mr Joseph Yeoh, Vice President of YTL Land & Development

“Shoppers today seek authentic experiences that reinforce their sense of community connection and engagement. We are pleased to offer this through our year-round line-up of activities, including the ongoing Rasa eslite celebration of arts and culture by eslite spectrum, as well as other engaging events we host, such as product and brand launches, pop-up activations and knowledge-sharing sessions. To serve our patrons’ demands, The Starhill welcomes opportunities for brands to partner with us to expand the slate of experiences we can offer,” he added.

The facade of The Starhill with the adjacent JW Marriott Hotel

Retail experiences that delight the senses

The highly anticipated grand opening of anchor tenant eslite spectrum from Taiwan, which occupies the entire Level 1 of The Starhill covering 70,000 square feet, took place on 17 December. As the inaugural eslite flagship store in Southeast Asia, this new KL’s Living Room reinforces The Starhill’s differentiation from other malls, with its lifestyle library concept completing the vision of The Starhill as a home for all in the heart of the city. Exuding a cosy environment, the arts and cultural destination features multi-labels from Taiwan, Malaysia and other places, encompassing the renowned eslite bookstore and other creative outlets offering a broad range of merchandise and dining experiences to draw repeat visits from a wide demographic of shoppers.

The opening weekend saw the store welcoming as many as 50,000 shoppers, with late night shopping on the opening day extended until 1am on 18 December, with long queues of visitors continued to be seen over Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, the Rasa eslite celebration features over 30 arts and cultural events lined up at the store during the first month of operation, curated to suit a variety of interests.

Beyond eslite spectrum, The Starhill also welcomed many recently opened stores including Apollo Wellness Centre, Biologique Recherche, Ivan Young, Okaju, Opera Café, Roberto Cavalli, Sonos Concept Store by TC Acoustic and Trove. Meanwhile, other international brands unique to The Starhill include Audemars Piguet, Balmain, Paul & Shark, Philipp Plein, Roberto Coin, Shiatzy Chen, Stefano Ricci and Tom Ford. Shoppers will also be delighted to hear of new stores such as 2XU and New Era opening by Q1 2023.

Centrestage of excitement

Positioned as the event central of Bukit Bintang, The Starhill introduced The Starhill Narrative – a knowledge-sharing platform for exchanging ideas to enrich the experiences of patrons beyond shopping and dining. In 2022, the platform drew in diverse members from the community to a wide range of sharing sessions featuring over 20 speakers from Malaysia and abroad. Headlining the series were a poetry recital, an investment talk on cryptocurrencies, a conversation on mental health and an eco-sustainable floral arrangement workshop.

The main event spaces – The Starhill Piazza and Entrance Foyer, have been particularly popular for diverse branding activations such as pop-up stores, brand showcases and launches by tenants and partners attracted by its high visibility on the Jalan Bukit Bintang street front. With more than 70% usage of the spaces already reserved up to mid-2023, over 50 exciting events have been held in 2022 since restrictions were relaxed. These include the Gelly Wee Bridal Fashion Show, Vans SK8-Hi Pop-Up, Prada Paradoxe Launch, McCafe International Coffee Month and brand showcases featuring Vespa and Lamborghini vehicles, as well as the current Franck Muller Christmas Installation ongoing until 1 January 2023. Meanwhile, the Entrance Foyer has been the venue of choice for activations such as the Callie Mask Pop-Up, Yuyu Active Candy Shop, LUMI Pop-Up and the recently concluded Chuck’sMas Pop-Up that returned for the second December running.

Patrons can keep track of the exciting line-up of events taking place in 2023 and other updates from The Starhill via Instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/thestarhillkl/  https://www.instagram.com/thestarhilldining/