RETAILER John Little, part of the Robinsons Group, says it will soon vacate its seven-storey Orchard Road outlet. This means the large pool of new retail space set to come onstream later this year will grow even bigger. The move by the retailer confirms months of speculation after it failed to exercise its option as a tenant to renew its lease with landlord OG late last year, as reported by The Straits...
Singapore Retail
SIXTY-FIVE per cent of the space in phase one of Marina Bay Link Mall has been taken up and the mall will open for business in the fourth quarter of this year. The 5,202 sq m mall will house retail and food-and-beverage outlets such as Din Tai Fung, Absolut Thai, an Apple concept store and Four Seasons Market Place. Wilson Kwong, chief executive of Raffles Quay Asset Management, announced the...
Mustafa Centre in Little India has been ordered to stop business temporarily for 40 hours on its first floor following a court order. This after the Singapore Civil Defence Force applied for the order as it's concerned about overcrowding in the 24-hour shop. In the first case of its kind, the first floor of the store closed from 4pm on Thursday and will resume business on Saturday at 8am. The court...
THE decline in prime retail rents looks set to bottom out as the economic recovery gathers pace and consumer confidence rebounds, says a new report. In its latest analysis of Singapore's prime retail scene released yesterday, CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) found that the pace of prime Orchard Road rental decline slowed significantly in the first quarter of this year to an average rent of $32.20 per sq ft (psf),...
Property consultant CB Richard Ellis said the pace of prime Orchard Road rental decline slowed in the first quarter this year. In a research report, it noted that prime Orchard Road rents averaged S$32.20 per square foot per month in the first quarter, down by just 0.7 per cent on-quarter. Rents had declined between 1.5 per cent and 3.3 per cent in the previous four quarters. Prime suburban rents,...
Even so, players have their work cut out as more than a million sq ft of space comes onstream, say PETER SEE-TOH and PNG POH SOON THE retail market not only faced the onslaught of the global financial crisis but also had to brave additional headwinds arising from a huge amount of new retail supply coming onstream in 2009. Lettable retail space increased by 1.7 million square feet, a whopping 51/2 times...
Take a stroll from Tanglin to Orchard and you will not miss these aged stalwarts of the shopping strip: Tanglin Shopping Centre, Far East Shopping Centre, Lucky Plaza, Far East Plaza, Orchard Towers and Orchard Plaza, with their 1970s architecture and haphazard mix of retailers. Already, one of them might be on its last legs: Orchard Road's oldest mall, the 38-year-old Tanglin Shopping Centre, which...
The new malls are not having it all their own way. Popular but older malls are renovating to give the newbies a run for their money. Undergoing a spruce-up are Raffles City Shopping Centre and Takashimaya Department Store. At Raffles City, renovations started last month on its first basement to make way for new retail and F&B offerings. There will also be a direct underground link from the mall's...
Cosmetics and toiletries are crowd-pullers at Mustafa Centre. That is why, to tackle overcrowding, the popular Little India retailer is planning to shift the sale of these high-volume products to new premises in July. This was revealed to The Sunday Times yesterday by Mr Shamim Ahmad, Mustafa's building maintenance and safety manager. The retailer occupies premises at 145 and 151, Syed Alwi...
A NEW fashion fiesta is expected to set Orchard Road abuzz when it is launched tonight. Called Fashion Season @ Orchard, it features a gamut of fashion events, workshops, parties and shopping deals. Ten shopping malls and more than 120 retailers are taking part in the event, which is organised by the Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) and supported by the Singapore Tourism Board. To get things...