What’s open, what’s still under construction, and what to skip for now
Johor Bahru’s mall scene has been promising a shake-up for over a year, and some of it has finally landed. SKS City Mall and Horizon Mall are both open and running right now.
OBS Mall, Coronation Square and a few other names you’ll see in “coming soon” roundups are still years out, so don’t plan a day trip around a building site.
| Quick Answers | Details |
|---|---|
| Open and trading | SKS City Mall JBCC (May 2026), Horizon Mall (September 2026) |
| Reopened, not new | KIPMall Tampoi (revamp, February 2026) |
| Still under construction | OBS Mall, Coronation Square, Bukit Chagar Integrated Development |
| Getting a revamp, not a rebuild | Johor Bahru City Square (targeting end-2027) |
| Best bet for a day trip | SKS City Mall JBCC, near the Causeway |
Table of Contents
- What’s Actually Open Right Now
- Reopened, Not Brand New
- What’s Still Coming
- Is It Worth Crossing the Border for a New Mall?
- FAQ
What’s Actually Open Right Now
Two new malls have opened their doors in 2026. Both are small enough that neither replaces a full day out, but each is worth knowing about if you’re already headed that way.
SKS City Mall JBCC
SKS City Mall JBCC opened on 1 May 2026 beneath the new Sheraton Johor Bahru Hotel, right in central JB. At 4.5 floors and about a 5-minute Grab ride from JB Central, it’s the easiest of the new openings to reach without a car.
One visitor who went during opening week described a main atrium that felt half-finished, with several shops yet to open. The SKS directory names Chagee-style tea chains, a Japanese pharmacy (Matsumoto Kiyoshi), a nail bar and a family-friendly indoor play area on the upper floors.
Chi Dynasty, a massage outlet downstairs, was quoting 150 MYR (~S$48) for a 60-minute session during opening week. The basement food court runs a supermarket (opened 21 May) and a scatter of casual chains rather than destination restaurants. The overall impression was a mall built for Sheraton guests and Horizon Hills residents first, Singaporean day-trippers second.
Expect more of the directory to be trading now, six months on from that opening-week snapshot.
Go in expecting a quick errand or a meal. KSL City Mall and The Mall, Mid Valley Southkey are the safer bet while SKS fills out.
📖 Related Guide: Our SKS City Mall JBCC guide has the full floor-by-floor directory and how to get there.
Horizon Mall
Horizon Mall opened in early September 2026, later than the May date most early coverage quoted. Village Grocer’s own launch announcement puts its doors open from 3 September, with 13 F&B brands trading within the first two weeks.
It’s a small, open-air, greenery-led mall built into the Horizon Hills township in Iskandar Puteri, about 150,000 sq ft across four floors. It’s a garden-style mall you’d actually want to sit around in, good for a weekend brunch.
The catch is where it is. Horizon Hills sits on the Second Link side of JB, roughly 35 minutes from Tuas Checkpoint and about 10 minutes from Legoland, so it works best tacked onto a theme-park day you’re already planning.
Confirmed names so far include Village Grocer as the supermarket anchor and a Starbucks drive-thru, alongside a run of tea and F&B brands. Paradigm Mall and R&F Mall are closer to the Causeway and already have everything open, including a cinema and arcade, so go there instead if that’s what you’re after.
📖 Related Guide: Pairing it with Legoland? Our Horizon Mall JB guide has the full tenant list and drive times from Singapore.
Reopened, Not Brand New
KIPMall Tampoi
KIPMall Tampoi isn’t a new building. It reopened on 8 February 2026 after a major revamp, about 15 to 20 minutes from the JB checkpoint in the Tampoi area, with a refreshed tenant mix inside.
It’s a reasonable stop if you’re already in Tampoi for AEON Tebrau or passing through on the way to Horizon Hills, but it’s not worth a dedicated trip on its own merits yet, since most of the detailed tenant information hasn’t surfaced beyond the revamp announcement itself.
📖 Related Guide: Our AEON Tebrau guide covers the bigger, better-documented mall just down the road, handy if you’re already in Tampoi.
What’s Still Coming
OBS Mall, Coronation Square, the Bukit Chagar Integrated Development and the Johor Bahru City Square revamp show up in most “new JB malls” roundups online. None of them are open yet, and most don’t have a confirmed opening date. Don’t build a trip around any of them for now.
OBS Mall (One Bukit Senyum)
OBS Mall sits within the One Bukit Senyum development, one of the high-rise projects reshaping JB’s skyline near the Causeway. As of this update, there’s no confirmed opening date and no published tenant list, so treat any specific store name you see attached to it online as unconfirmed.
Coronation Square
Coronation Square Mall broke ground on 7 May 2026, with CapitaLand Investment advising on the retail plan for developer Coronade Properties. Completion is still targeted for 2029, so construction has started, but there are years of building left to go.
Bukit Chagar Integrated Development
Bukit Chagar Integrated Development is a separate project from Coronation Square, even though both sit near the same RTS Link terminus. MRT Corp and Sunway signed the agreement in February 2025 for a 2.6 billion MYR (~S$789 million at the time) mixed development right beside the Bukit Chagar RTS station and the new immigration complex.
The plan bundles a mall with a hotel, serviced apartments and a wellness hub, totalling roughly 400,000 sq ft of retail, hospitality and wellness space between them. Later 2026 reporting put the build at eight years, phased, with completion between 2033 and 2036. It’ll likely still be under construction when the RTS Link itself opens.
Johor Bahru City Square’s Revamp
Johor Bahru City Square isn’t a new mall at all; it’s an existing one undergoing a phased upgrade. The plans include a 15,000 sq ft kids’ adventure park and a 41,300 sq ft wellness hub, with completion targeted for the end of 2027. The mall stays open and trading throughout, so there’s no need to wait for it.
📖 Related Guide: Plenty else to fill a JB weekend while you wait for these to open. Our 27 things to do in JB covers the rest of the trip.
Is It Worth Crossing the Border for a New Mall?
Yes, SKS City Mall is worth it. It’s a short Grab ride from the Causeway with no car needed, so it slots easily into a JB trip you’re already making. Horizon Mall makes more sense bundled with a Legoland day than visited on its own.
Most of the hype around this wave of openings ties back to the RTS Link, the rail line meant to cut the Woodlands-to-JB crossing to about five minutes. Singapore and Malaysia jointly set the target at February 2027 as of an 8 October 2026 announcement, after earlier target dates slipped more than once. Don’t plan a mall-hopping trip around that date until it’s actually running.
Our train to JB guide tracks the latest timeline if you want to check before you go.
Whichever mall you end up at, how you pay matters more than which one you pick. Tap your YouTrip card at any of them and you’re billed at the Mastercard wholesale rate with no foreign transaction fee. MYR is one of YouTrip’s 12 hold-able wallet currencies too, so you can lock in your ringgit when the rate looks decent and spend it later.
For the cash-only stalls and parking, skip the money changer and withdraw ringgit from an ATM instead. Money changers mark up the rate they quote you, and checkpoint and airport counters are usually worse. Your first S$400 of overseas withdrawals each calendar month is free with YouTrip, then it’s a flat 2% after that.
For deeper detail, see our Malaysia ATM withdrawal guide and the SGD to MYR rate guide.
FAQ
Two: SKS City Mall JBCC, which opened on 1 May 2026 in central JB, and Horizon Mall, an open-air lifestyle mall in Iskandar Puteri that opened in early September 2026. KIPMall Tampoi also reopened in February 2026, but that’s a revamp of an existing building.
Yes, as of this update. It opened in early September 2026, later than the May 2026 date that circulated in earlier coverage.
No. OBS Mall, part of the One Bukit Senyum development, has no confirmed opening date or published tenant list as of this update.
SKS City Mall JBCC, mainly because it’s about a 5-minute Grab ride from JB Central with no car needed. Horizon Mall works better paired with a Legoland visit, since it’s on the Second Link side of JB.
Not directly. The malls themselves are already open or not, regardless of the rail line. The RTS Link matters for how easily you’ll get there once it’s running, and the current joint target is February 2027, though the date has slipped before.
Tap a YouTrip card anywhere that takes cards, since you’ll get the wholesale exchange rate with no foreign transaction fee. Withdraw a little ringgit from an ATM for cash-only stalls and parking rather than using a money changer, and keep an e-wallet like Touch ‘n Go for tolls if you’re driving.
Two JB malls are open. The rest are still years away
SKS City Mall and Horizon Mall are the two genuinely new options actually open right now. Everything else on this list is either years out or an existing mall with a new tenant mix, and neither is worth restructuring a whole trip around on its own yet.
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