Sports Direct.com opens at Sunway Big Box

Just a glance at the attractive merchandise in the spanking new Sports Direct.com store at Sunway Big Box retail park in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, and the thought that echoed through my mind was, “Choices! Choices! Choices!”

The entrance to Sports Direct.com at
Sunway Big Box retail park

With more than 70 international brands of the best in variety and value presented to shoppers over 18,000sf of shopfloor in this 31^st Sports Direct retail store in Malaysia, there was certainly plenty to choose from.

As an opening special, I had the privilege of being escorted around by Danielle Gibbons from Brand Marketing in Sports Direct.com who introduced me to the various sections of this super store that forms part of the anchor tenant base at Sunway Big Box.

Another view of the entrance at Sunway Big Box 

While showing me the Lifestyle zone, Danielle reminded me that Sports Direct not only caters to the needs of sports enthusiasts but also to fashion and lifestyle needs.

In fact, an additional 4,000sf of sports lifestyle brands will soon be added to this store in the retail facia USC, scheduled to be open early in the New Year.

As we made a tour of this flagship store in Johor, I had a glimpse of the Sports Direct approach to value and variety in a one-shop, larger format retail footprint which is very appealing to consumers.

Here's the Football zone

To help shoppers identify which merchandise is for Men or Ladies, Sports Direct uses labels in Black colour for Men and in White colour for Ladies.

This brilliant idea conveniently helps shoppers to browse around and select their own choices before seeking help from the Sales Assistants to get their right sizes.

Yet (I thought!) the onus is really on shoppers to cooperate and replace each item – like shoes – at the original spaces so that the next shoppers would see the products along with the right labels.

Product labels by colour: Black for Men
and White for Ladies

In an entire section dedicated to shoes for Kids, there was a wide choice that ranges from sports shoes to smart shoes and even cute pairs of Mary Janes.

The store offers a range of brands in an easy, very competitively priced, shop-by-sports-zone environment where shoppers can find everything they need for a particular sport in each zone.

Danielle pointed out that besides zones for popular sports like Football, Running, Training, Swimming and Rackets, they also have a specific section that caters to the needs of Yoga enthusiasts.

At the Rackets zone

At the Rackets zone, I felt a sudden rush of nostalgia when I saw familiar brands like Dunlop and Carlton. I could not resist sharing with Danielle that our late grandfather was a four-time, Johor state badminton champion in the 1930s.*

I told her that my cousins, siblings, and I lived with our grandparents in our school-going years and we had a badminton court next to our house where grandfather would train world-class badminton players.**

Get your Stringing and
Re-Grip Services done here!

We looked at the badminton rackets on display and I shared how grandfather would saw down the racket shafts to create rackets that matched the heights of us kids, so that we could practice our racket wielding skills and swing an arc freely without smashing the racket on the ground.

When I spotted a counter that provided free Stringing and Re-grip Services for rackets, I was again reminded of those days when we witnessed how grandfather and our uncles used to string rackets at home.

In fact, our cousin Malcolm – now based in Sydney – has Sports Direct as a mandatory stopover on each visit here so that he could get all his sporting needs including racket strings and grips to replace on his rackets.

Many brand choices to choose from!

Then I paused to send him a photograph of the store’s façade to show off this new opening in Iskandar Puteri and his prompt reply simply reads, “Need a pair of Asics!”

Malcolm is partial to Asics shoes, so I had much pleasure in sharing with him, photos of the choices available here and encouraged him to browse at the online store.

After Danielle had moved on to escort others for an introduction to the shopfloor layout, I retraced my steps for a more leisurely look at the range of products and paid closer attention to the sections labeled “SD Exclusive” and even peeked into the bins labeled “Great Deals.”

Choices! Choices! Choices!

I was drawn to the section for Technical Sandals, everyday footwear ideal for our tropical weather and as I admired each design, it was just difficult to decide on which pair because I was simply spoilt for choice!

Finally, yes finally, I managed to make my choice and came away with my Best Buy from Sports Direct.com at Sunway Big Box retail park.

Sports Direct, the UK’s largest sporting goods retailer by revenue in a diversified portfolio of sports, fitness, fashion and lifestyle fascia’s and brands, through a joint venture partnership with Malaysian owned MST Golf Group of companies, established Sports Direct Malaysia as the first direct retail investment in Asia.

The Pay Point at Sports Direct.com

Currently Sports Direct Malaysia operates 31 retail stores and manages a proprietary SPORTSDIRECT.COM e-commerce site.

Sports Direct.com opened at Sunway Big Box Retail Park, is located at Persiaran Medini 5, 79250 Iskandar Puteri. Open daily from 10am to 10pm.

*Read, Where champions were born and The Real Champion, in My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage.

**Read, Badminton is in the blood and Richard’s Quest, in My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People.

My Johor Stories series of books are available from MPH bookstores nationwide and online from www.mphonline.