The Square by Jaya One is excited to celebrate its 5 Years Anniversary – ‘Truly Yours, Truly Pet-Friendly’ throughout the month of July 2023 as an expression of gratitude toward the community for all the learnings over the years championing pet-friendly initiatives. The event is also parallel to reaffirming The Square’s core beliefs and values as a pet-friendly space built on the foundation of championing social responsibility, notably rehoming and education programs.
The objective behind the anniversary celebration is to express gratitude and appreciation to the pet-friendly community and the general public for all the guidance, tolerance, feedback, and advice given to shape The Square be the space that it is now embodied with thoughtful programs and experiential offerings. Setting aside commercial values, the fundamental beliefs and principles of championing animal welfare and promoting responsible pet ownership in the community guided The Square as a pet-friendly entity.
Going back in time to 15 years ago, Jaya One has been a pioneer in championing the fundamentals of social responsibility in collaboration with the animal welfare organisation, Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB). With continuous adoption drives and education initiatives, The Square has successfully supported over 1000 rounds of pet adoption initiatives working together with more than 100 pet shelters, animal rescue groups, organisations and non-profit communities to help rehome over 2000 pets over the past 15 years.
With the core values of championing animal protection in mind, The Square was revamped and mapped out in 2018 with careful consideration of 4 Key Pillars as the cornerstones of the transformation, namely Rehoming Programs, Education Programs, Pet-friendly Restaurants & Working Spaces, and Events & Bazaars. The upgrade was also in line to support the demand for a more comfortable pet-friendly space that caters to fur-families’ lifestyle needs, as well as to help the community develop responsible and caring behaviour toward animals, preventing animal cruelty and neglect in the long term. In line with that, a succession of social initiatives followed such as stray feeding by Cat Mojos, Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage (TNRM) program by Busy Boarders, adoption drives by MDDB, Second Chance Animal Society and Pads & Paws KL to name a few, pet first aid courses by PetMedic, puppy training by Puppy School, pet education workshops by JomPaw, and many more – with a greater cause and aim to build a more sustainable and civic-minded community.
“The Square was set out with a goal to demonstrate if humans and animals can co-exist in a retail and entertainment setting, whilst balancing the needs of others without pets. Up until today, we are still very firm and dedicated to championing our philosophy along with an interconnected pet-friendly ecosystem built on the fundamentals of social responsibility. From constant pet education programs to assisting homeless pets in the quest for a family, we take ownership in our belief to create an ethically sustainable and positive pet-friendly environment in society – and we are happy to share that we have supported over 2000 pets in finding their new homes over the past 15 years. For that, we cannot thank the community enough for working together with us and helping us to learn through all the experiences to achieve this rewarding milestone. The Square, as to what we see today, is the result of all our mistakes,
hurdles, learnings, and improvement that we have gathered from our community and all the partners we’ve worked with. I truly believe that we are yet another step closer to achieving our goals aligned with the 4 Key Pillars, and we are committed to continuing our lifelong pursuit to champion our social cause to rehome stray animals as well as to create a space where fur-parents can enjoy quality time with their pets in a mutually respectful manner balancing the needs of everyone. That is why we keep doing what we do,” said Charles Wong, Executive Director of Bina Tetap Tiara Sdn Bhd, the developer of The Square by Jaya One.
Championing the 4 Key Pillars of The Square, a range of multi-faceted offerings were set up so that fur-parents can bond, learn, and explore fun experiences with their pets. A host of education programs were put in place starting 5 years ago, for example, campaigns like ‘#letstalkmore about us being pet-friendly’ and #adoptdontbuy were initiated to encourage responsible pet ownership as well as to inspire more acts of compassion to support animals in need. The puppy training school was established to help nurture pets with essential skills such as toilet training, manners & control, loose-leash walking, and more. Adoption drives are carried out twice every month to help the strays. Most restaurants and bars in The Square are pet-friendly, and the Retail Linkway below The Square has a range of restaurants with pet-
friendly dining zones to allow more space for pet owners to dine with their pets comfortably. Aside from dining, The Square is also home to Malaysia’s very first pet-friendly coworking space, Common Ground as well as Malaysia’s first pet-friendly Theatre Hall.
Aside from curating pet bazaars for fur-parents to shop for pet essentials, unique events like Chap Dog Meh and Mid-Pawtumn Parade were specially introduced for pet families to enjoy the festivities and bond with their loving pets. In terms of facilities – through embracing learnings and feedback from the community over the years – The Square has set out dedicated facilities such as the Priority For Pets Area at Level G, a dedicated pet toilet in Level P1, a pet-friendly lift, pet water bottles in restaurants, trained pet marshals and more in line with its effort to empowering responsible pet ownership and cater to the wide range of pet needs. Moving forward 5 years, The Square is focused and committed to dedicating more
facilities and examining thoughtful accessibilities for pet families to shop around, for example, a new pet-friendly entrance route was also introduced at Level P2, The School in May 2023, to allow pet owners to access the pet-friendly areas in Jaya One at ease from the Jalan 13/6 side.
The ‘Truly Yours, Truly Pet-Friendly’ tribute in July is a celebration of The Square’s 5 years anniversary of being pet-friendly. Echoing expression of gratitude, attendees can look forward to a host of exciting activities, including a Masterclass & Demos on German Shepherds, a Pet Emergency Response Workshop, a Pet Agility Challenge, an Adoption Carnival, Pet Movie Day and more from 1-23 July 2023. Pet owners can also get their pets a stunning personalised Front Cover Magazine feature of their choice for FREE by sending in their pet photos taken in The Square here: https://forms.gle/rbnscHDDfFtfEeib7. These activities and workshops are open to the public and specially curated for all pet-families as an appreciation for their support, feedback, and guidance all these years.
Supported by pet-friendly restaurants in The Square and the retail linkway, pet owners can enjoy 10% off their total bill when dining with their pets throughout the month of July. The participating restaurants include Sangkaya and Kim Lian Kee at Level P2 Retail Linkway; Kim’s Roaster at Level P1 Retail Linkway; Apple Samgyupsal, Tommy Thongchai, Three Stooges and IPPUDO at Level G The Square; and MeTime Book Cafe at Level 1 The Square.
Following the launch of the month-long tribute, pet-families can enjoy a host of amazing events by checking out The Square’s social media for latest updates. Admission is free for all the pet-friendly events, detailed below. For more information, visit https://www.jayaone.com.my/.
