Service or the tertiary industry in the State of Johor contributes at least 25 percent to the economic growth.  Johor Bahru City, being the state capital and the most important and vibrant city in southern peninsular Malaysia, has a vibrant and diverse commercial activities.  It is expected that the service industry would contribute 50 percent to the city's GDP growth by the year 2020.

The Johor Bahru Central District is the centre of commercial activities in the metropolitan region.  Following the announcement of the Johor Bahru Central District Development Masterplan, the area classified as the city centre has expanded from 200 acres to about 1000 acres.  At the same time, the plan officially name the city centre area as Daerah Sentral Johor Bahru (DSJB) or the Johor Bahru Central District, instead of the usual Central Business District (CBD).

Besides the DSJB area, commercial activities in the city proper are also located along Jalan Tebrau (Tebrau Highway), Jalan Tun Abdul Razak (Tun Abdul Razak Highway), Taman Sentosa (Sentosa Housing Estate), Taman Pelangi (Pelangi Housing Estate) and Century Garden. 

While the two to four storey shop-houses are still the main commercial venue for local business operations, 13 big-scale office towers are currently occupied, seven opening soon and at least 11 more under-construction within the city proper.  Most of the businessmen surveyed conveyed that they will move into office towers as they are better equipped and it boost the company's image considerably.

Numerous banking and finance companies have a significant foot-hold in Johor Bahru.  However, Johor Bahru's biggest commercial asset is it's approximity to Singapore.  Owing to that, Johor Bahru's retail and service sector flourished because many Singaporeans like to do their shopping and having their entertainment over in Johor Bahru because of the currency exchange rate that makes goods sold in Johor Bahru cheaper than those in Singapore.