A new mall aims to be the hub for culture, arts, food and lifestyle.
A confluence of arts, culture and lifestyle, the Publika at Solaris Dutamas is the perfect place for families and friends to spend a day out together.
The new retail destination, is all about the community participating in arts and enrichment that is complemented with a range of arts, food, fashion and lifestyle stores.
The area has three residential towers coupled with offices and 200 retail units with tenants that complement the artistic efforts by the developer Sunrise Bhd.
An artist impression of the shopping gallery at The Publika.
Arts in shops will be in the form of art cafes and bakeries, artisan home decor, custom-made jewellery, children’s art and craft while art in the environment will take the form of art walls, sculptures and installations.
Apart from the mundane tasks of running errands and paying bills, the Publika serves as a community space.
“The Publika is a reflection of our tagline ‘Building Dreams Creating Value’. We are moving forward,” said Sunrise Berhad general manager branding and community development, Anne K.L. Tong.
Set to be launched in August, the Publika will cater to some 80,000 households in the area. Access into the mall is fairly easy with a number of highways including Jalan Duta, Sprint and Jalan Kuching. It takes only 10 to 15 minutes from places like TTDI, Damansara Utama, Seputeh, KL city, Kepong and Selayang to get there.
Complex manager Kow Shih Li said they have roped in a number of big names to help realise this vision including MPH Bookstores, British India as well as BIG, a concept supermarket.
The complex already has an art gallery, MAP @ Publika as well as the White Box Gallery and the Black Box Theatre.
“The supermarket itself will be different compared with others as there will be cooking classes, workshops and events that will take place inside,” she said.
There will also be a food court featuring local Chinese fare as well as quirky but fun fashion outlets.
MPH Bookstores for example are excited to join the bandwagon with a number of creative ideas that will inspire children and the young at heart.
MPH chief operating officer Donald Kee said they felt that they should not miss out on the opportunity especially since it was their 105th anniversary.
The MPH outlet in Publika will be different from its sister outlets across the country with several key features. Among which is a conducive environment for the younger members of the family.
Children will be instantly drawn into the shop with its thematic decor featuring fire engines and a bus fixture that offers role play with movable furniture. The children’s section will be visible from the outside with glass fixtures in place of walls, giving people outside an idea of the fun-filled time going on inside.
The store has a good collection of children’s books and new parents can find a guide book that will provide ideas on choosing the best books for their young ones.
MPH also has the largest collection of e-books and the company will soon release a tablet that will allow readers to download these books from special terminals provided inside.
“People are now moving from the physical to the digital age. We wanted to provide a tablet that is affordable and meant purely for reading,” said Kee.
There will be various activities as well on weekends to boost children’s interest in reading. The place is also ideal as there will be a cafe just next door that will provide an excellent place for parents to enjoy some time together while the children read inside the bookstore.
There are also plans to have a special gift section with exclusive items from hand-picked vendors and partners of MPH.
“The items will be unique but they are value-added since you would not normally find them at bookstores,” he said.
To cater to the expatriates in the vicinity, there will be a section dedicated to selling foreign language magazines especially Korean and Japanese.
The Publika is located at Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Dutamas 1 Kuala Lumpur. – By Priya Menon
