Bone Collector Store + Izwan ‘Ned’ Haris
Shop
Bone Collector Store
That Store Above the Mamak
Our discovery of the quaint shop is as how a number of people have found the place – hanging out at the mamak below, Maulana, only to find an illuminated upstairs where merchandise such as t-shirts and bags are seen hung by the windows. Just walk up the stairs by the mamak and the name of the store appears atop the flight of stairs – Bone Collector Store. Turn your head and a large monochromatic mural bears the clothing brand Mutha Puaka’s name.
Behind a racketing door, there’s the store. Despite all the t-shirts, of bands or other pop cultural figures, and records displayed, Bone Collectors Store doesn’t actually sell these, well, not frequently. The main brands sold there are clothing – Mutha Puaka, Obliq, a popular brand of resilient bags from Zurich called Freitag, and the artisanal leather goods business Attached Leather Co. Since the owner, Ned as he’s known, has been in the music scene for countless years, he occasionally receives merch from bands to sell at the store in extremely limited quantities. Being an avid collector, Ned sometimes keeps a piece of the merchandise for remembrance and novelty sake.
The business that started online via Ned’s personal Instagram account has now expanded into a second Bone Collector Store in Ara Damansara with an accompanying café called Muloot ( a venture with partner Ilham, the vocalist of nusantara band Pitahati) and a newly opened event space just next door called Perfect Square Space.
Bone Collector Store is located at 147A, Jalan Aminuddin Baki, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur.
O: 8.30pm – 1.30am (Tuesday – Sunday)
T: 011 2311 4560
instagram.com/bonecollectorstore/
Bone Collector Store Two is located at C-1-19, Level 1, Jalan PJU 1A/20 B, Dataran Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.
O: 10am – 10pm (Closed on Wednesday)
facebook.com/bonecollectorestoretwo
instagram.com/bonecollectorstoretwo/
Owner
Izwan ‘Ned’ Haris
A Musician Realising a Long Dream
Ned is a former finance professional who had a dream of opening an event space. He has also played in a number of bands, most notably as the bassist of the defunct ambient rock group Akta Angkasa. However, he soon grew tired of playing music and started to sell his vast collection of pop culture memorabilia online, which then steadily grew into a physical store.
So you’ve been opened officially for three years, everything running okay?
Yeah, surprisingly okay. I carry Mutha Puaka – the best seller. There’s also Oblique, Freitag, and Attached Leather Co. I mainly carry these four brands. My partner handles the other store with all the pre-loved items and the café called Muloot. The second shop sells more albums from local musicians because if I were to carry them here, it’d be difficult for the second store because the outlet here is more known, so I need to create a balance.
Does the second store carry the four brands you mentioned?
No. It’s purely a music store. The space is bigger than this place. There are some people who would ask about where to get certain band t-shirts, I’ll direct them to the appropriate channels. But, some of the bands aren’t even around anymore. All the hanging tees are very rare and difficult to find.
We saw on Instagram that this store in particular sold some band tees and such. Like the TOKO KILAT tote bag… is it sold out?
Yeah, it is! I keep some of the band tees I sell because of the graphics… I won’t even sell these because they’re finished! The bands don’t even print many… [proceeds to show us different editions of Killeur Calculateur t-shirts].
On to Perfect Square Space, can you talk a bit about how this event space came to be?
It’s a few weeks old but we actually started seven months ago. I just jumped into the gig space business. The equipment, gears, and cables are different from the ones you use in the studio. I also thought I had enough funds for this but no, it took us four months to collect some money. But I don’t intend to just have the space focussed on music, there will be poetry readings, screenings, and such that are upcoming.