Japanese retailer Aeon has partnered with Thai furniture and home decorative retailer Index Living Mall to open its first furniture store in Malaysia.

The 5704sqm store in located inside the new IOI City Mall in Putrajaya.

Aeon Malaysia MD Nur Qamarina Chew says the company has high hopes for the concept.

“With our ‘customer-first’ philosophy, Aeon will continue to accelerate business in the Asean region, with the goal of becoming Asia’s number one retailer,” she said on Saturday.

Index Living Mall (illustrated in our library image is above) sells furniture for the home and home office, homewares, kitchenwares and small appliances. Like Ikea, it features settings grouping items together so shoppers can ‘build a room’.

The furniture retail mall will be managed by Aeon Index Living, a joint venture between Aeon Malaysia and Index Living Mall Thailand.

Index, which started out as a furniture maker, has stores in Thailand and Vietnam.

Founder and CEO Pisith Patamasatayasonthi said the company has become a leading furniture manufacturer in Thailand.