if ur into shopping for cheap stuffs, then its giant, best mart, safe mart, kip mart, etc. Which btw, best mart's pet shop is really fun, all kinds of exotic animals monkeys, chipmunks, prairie dogs, seahorse, crayfish, lemmings, gekkos, starfish, box fish, badgers, puppies, snakes even skunks!.
for hip clothes, haircuts, etc like far east, u can goto holiday plaza. vcds, cdroms easier to get it just outside JB customs the shop beside the bridge. same price.
otherwise just stick to the shopping complex just outside the customs + backlane food. it's good enough esp the ramly burger(stay away fr the one just outside jb customs, sucks), bbq rayfish, etc.
If u want real live seafood u can head to gelang patah kampung (Saujana, Yeo's family not so good, sentosa, etc), v fresh esp the oysters. I go there a lot, like tomorrow.
btw jb customs --> holiday plaza should cost around RM5-6 and no more! otherwise
haggle a lot.