QUEENSWAY
shopping centre
Findings From Shop Owners
Findings From Shop Owners
Business Prospects
En bloc shops in Singapore
Commercial and mixed-use buildings have not been spared from the en bloc contagion sweeping through the property market. In land-scarce cities like Singapore, repurposing older buildings is essential to keep up with the needs of a growing population (JLL Real Views, 2018). This collective sale of property has more recently extended to other buildings, including strata-titled shopping centres such as Tanglin Shopping Centre and Katong Shopping Centre (Min, 2017); even Singapore’s electronic mall Sim Lim Square is not spared from this risk. There has been some discussion about Queensway Shopping Centre becoming a candidate for an en bloc sale, with four freehold units occupied by McDonald’s and Sportslink put up for sale by expression of interest in 2013 (Ting, 2018), although “nothing (has been) finalised yet”, according to shop owners of Bonker’s Link and Great Eastern Cos Co. However, collective sales of commercial properties are more complex than those of residential ones, as there is less agreement between shop owners about their shops’ values, in addition to the lack of comparison with similar completed transactions available, and reluctance to move their businesses when alternative locations are not feasible (Khoo, 2017). The asking price for such commercial buildings also tend to be high and many of such attempts fail. Furthermore, older buildings like Queensway Shopping Centre have cultural value, which can be beneficial for business and tourism, and cause developers to think twice before deciding to demolish or repurpose these buildings.
Effects of Online Shopping
Analytics firms, comScore and UPS, found that consumers are buying more products online than from physical stores (Farber, 2016). They found that shoppers make 51% of their purchases online, increasing from 48% in 2015 and 47% in 2014 respectively. This is the case for Singaporeans too, as 50% of Singapore netizens would do all their shopping online if possible. Furthermore, e-commerce user penetration rate is expected to increase from 57.31% in 2015 to 74.20% in 2020 (GO-Globe, 2016). Singaporeans are becoming increasingly savvy with their smartphones, with a high proportion of respondents (38%) stating that they purchase products online with their smartphones at least once a month, compared with the global proportion of 28%. With high internet penetration, consumers can buy and obtain information easily, even products from overseas (Hardasmalani, 2016).
Recently, Nike decided to shift its focus to bigger stores and to grow their own online store. Nike decided to stop supplying to smaller shops despite them doing honest business for Nike for more than 20 years (Tan, 2016). This example illustrates how brick-and-mortar stores can be affected by the growing popularity of online shopping, especially for older shops like those in Queensway Shopping Center. Shop owners are now feeling the pinch and realizing that sales may have fallen due to online shopping. Some shop owners have expressed anxiety and have not made future plans on how to increase their competitiveness. Others are exasperated as their shops have existed for a long time and they have been working there for most of their lives, and would not know what to do should their shops fold. However, some shop owners are more optimistic: a few have stated they were considering retirement, others were confident of their ability to stay competitive in the changing market, and the rest were open to relocating their businesses. We can see that there are many different responses and future prospects ahead for shop owners.
Customers
Locals
According to most of the shop owners, the customers range from students and working adults to older people and tourists. However, most of the shops we spoke to highlighted that regular customers play a large role in sustaining the business. Many regulars have visited this shopping centre since their schooling days. Even after they had moved out of the area, they still come back here as it remains as their first choice for cheap and good sports apparel.
In addition, we found that the customer demographics differ across shops. For instance, while many parents often bring their children to get sports shoes and apparel, owners of sports stores shared that the students still form the main bulk of their customer base. In contrast, Mr Jeremy Chan, whose father owns OZ Optique Zone, shared that “definitely the regulars are the older people, but there are also tourists and young people that come here. But nowadays there are more and more young people.” As for more traditional businesses like tailoring, Mr Wilson Song, who has been operating Wilson Tailor since the 1980s, shared that he relies mostly on regular customers to sustain the business, but highlighted that “they are also getting old... how many trousers will he need? How long more will he be able to wear them…”.
Foreigners
A handful of foreigners also shared that they came here based on recommendations online or through their local friends. For example, Min shared that she knew about this mall through her neighbour and friends. Tourists visit here upon googling online about buying sports goods or shopping in Singapore. They commonly cite that it is interesting to shop in the heartlands, unlike the more modern and busy Orchard road. For example, Mr K, a tourist, shared, “I do not live here (Singapore), but if I’m in Singapore, I will come here, about 3 or 4 times a year… just to look around for sports stuff… there are very interesting things… like I will come and look for a specific (shoe) model”.
Spillover Customers
Many shop owners shred that neighbouring amenities in the vicinity contributes to the crowd in Queensway Shopping Centre. IKEA (Alexandra) was singled out as the key source of bringing in the crowd. IKEA is described as “a global destination store for home furnishing, appliances, [and]...is the world’s largest furniture retailer with more than 301 stores and 30 franchised units” (Loeb, 2012). IKEA is always able to draw a large crowd during the weekends. The recent opening of Park Hotel Alexandra has also led to more tourists visiting the mall as Mr Lim Jin Fu, who works at Salam & Sons, shared, “business improved a bit la. Like those tourist they stay in hotels then they come over la. Not much better but a bit better la”.
However, other shop owners highlighted that recent redevelopment projects in the vicinity have affected their business negatively. Mr William Tan, owner of Great Eastern Cos Co., shared that, “Last time when Alexandra Hospital was still here the nurses would come over and buy things. But with the changes many have gone to other places so business is slower. As for IKEA, there used to be only one IKEA in Singapore...our carpark was so packed but then our parking fees increased and IKEA opened another outlet in Tampines so the crowd became lesser here”.
Elaborating further, Mr Tan mentioned how other shopping centres in the region which are located near MRT stations have also affected business. “With the opening of Clementi Mall and Jurong Point, it has blocked off business for us because those malls are more accessible. In the past those malls were not opened yet so business was good here” he shared.
Pros and Cons of Doing Business at Queensway
Rich history and heritage
Many older tenants who have been operating their shops in Queensway Shopping Centre feel that the mall is special as it holds a rich history and is different from modern day shopping centres. For instance, Mr Lim, who has been working at Salam & Sons for the past 11 years, said that the main selling point of the mall is its history and heritage as almost all kinds of sports-related goods can be found here. Other tenants shared the same sentiments.
Unattractiveness
While Queensway is said to have a rich history, other tenants felt that the lack of food options and inaccessible location does not appeal to the masses and more should be done to bring people to the mall. Mr Wilson Song, owner of Wilson Tailor, pointed out that “There’s a big difference. The new malls have food courts, arcades and many things. But isn't any here. The lack of MRT nearby is also a problem.” Another shop owner, Mr Chng, shared that many customers complained about the accessibility of the mall, adding that business is worse during the rainy season due to a lack of sheltered walkways leading to the shopping centre.
Reasons for staying in Queensway
While business has declined over the years, several shop owners still choose to continue their business in the shopping centre due to a sense of attachment or a more practical reason like cheap rental costs. Some also felt that opening their shops at Queensway Shopping Center allowed for flexibility in terms of opening hours, where tenants are able to operate their shops based on their preferred timings. This is unlike other new shopping malls which have fixed operating hours.