Residents of Petaling Jaya have a wide selection of traditional shops as well as a choice of several medium to large shopping complexes. The shops are situated at various strategic locations such as SS2, Damansara Utama, Kelana Jaya, Damansara Jaya, Taman Megah, SS3, Section 14, SEA Park, PJ New Town and PJ Old Town. During Petaling Jaya's early days, locals used to shop at either PJ Old Town, New Town or Section 14. PJ New Town is also commonly referred to as PJ State or simply State.
The first institution that resembled a shopping centre in Petaling Jaya was the Thrifty Supermarket that used to operate along Jalan Barat. However, the very first supermarket (sundry shop) to operate in Petaling Jaya is perhaps either Ben's Mini Market or Pok Brothers Mini Market, both of which operated in PJ New Town. Not too long afterwards, Fitzpatrick's Supermarket commenced operations at the Asia Jaya Complex.
The late 1950s saw a growth in manufacturing industries with foreign companies like Singapore's Fraser and Neave (F&N), and Colgate-Palmolive (Malaysia) setting up factories at Seksyen 13.
A while later, during the mid-1970s, Jaya Supermarket commenced operations at Section 14. It was closed down and demolished in 2008. Most of the shops in the supermarket are being relocated to the nearby Jaya 33 supermarket on Jalan Semangat.
The Fitzpatrick Supermarket did not survive the 1980s recession. The Asia Jaya Complex itself was transformed to become the Armada Hotel during the mid-1990s. Thrifty Supermarket did not survive the 1990s economic recession.
Today Court's is operating at this Jalan Barat location, housed in the building known as Wisma Thrifty. In SEA Park, the Emporium Supermarket operated during the 1970s in the premises located above the SEA Park wet market. The Emporium too did not survive the 1980s economic downturn.
By the 1980s, the Daya and Fajar Supermarkets had commenced operations at SS2 and Damansara Utama
