What's happening to the malls of Tampines?

08 May 2023

Seriously, what's happening to the malls of Tampines?? so many of the popular & long-time tenants are closing within the past 1-2years, and most got replaced by lousier shops...

long gone are the days of Tampines Central being labelled the best 'heartland shopping district outside Orchard', as the standard and quality of the shops have declined so sharply over the past 3-5years; especially so for Tampines 1 & Century Square.

What's happening to Tampines 1?
technically, Tampines 1 has the best location among the 3 malls, as it is directly beside the MRT stations & bus interchange. but Frasers is wasting its prime frontages for claw machines or selfie studio??!? Tampines 1 has degraded from a mall filled with popular brands (e.g. Topshop/Topmen, Sephora, Esprit, Lowrys Farm, Muji, etc.) & new entrance to the Singapore market (e.g. 1st Uniqlo store in Singapore, Payless Shoesource), to a rather low-class mall flooded with flea-market-style shops (e.g. Walah/turtle) & over-representation of china brands (e.g. Kun Hai Shop, Tan Yu, HLA, Luckin Coffee).

many shops & eateries that i like had closed (e.g. Under Armour, Dot, Topmen, World of Sports, Sports Link, Barcook Bakery, Hot Star Large Fried Chicken, Fruit Box, UrbanWrite, etc.), or relocated to Tampines Mall (e.g. Uniqlo) recently. with more shops closing, i'm wondering how much lower the standard of Tampines 1 will drop. guess without Muji, Daiso & Donki, Tampines 1 will just be a 'neighbourhood mall' worse than Seletar Mall.

What's happening to Century Square?
despite been the longest surviving mall in Tampines Central (since 1995), Century Square has been struggling since the opening of Tampines 1 in 2009. while not as glamorous as the other 2 neighbours, Century Square is still doing fine with then anchor tenants BHG, Best Denki & other shops like Kiddy Palace, Bata, Bega & Chicken Up. However, the 2018 makeover totally killed the mall. to put it crudely, Century Square does not seems to have a branding nor a target audience now (Century Square used to target ladies shoppers in 2003). the current tenant mix is quite random, messy & pathetic. you know its problematic when the current 'anchor tenant' of Century Square is Haidilao, Gymmboxx, Foot Locker & Prime supermarket. much of the malls are occupied by tuition centres, clinics & hair/beauty salons.

with an already low footfall, the irony is that Frasers seems to be chasing out existing tenants (e.g. Gymmboxx, Shi Tang by Mahota Kitchen). usually landlords will increase rental when they already have prospective tenant(s) that are either on par or better than the incumbent. so i'm looking forward to see who will be taking over the numerous vacant spaces at Century Square (especially at the L1 entrance where The Underground, Veola, Kappa & Mahota were located). Nevertheless, will any of the new tenants be the saviour for Century Square?

it also seems quite obvious that Frasers is just holding on to Century Square to avoid CapitaMall from subsuming it to enlarge Tampines Mall (similar to how Iluma was converted into Bugis+ and connected to Bugis Junction). if that happens, it will be doomsday for Tampines 1. else, would Century Square follow the same route as Bedok Point and JCube (to be redeveloped into a resi/comm mixed use)? maybe perhaps Frasers should move Muji, Donki or Daiso over as anchor to save Century Square? afterall, it should be easier to attract tenants for Tampines 1.

What's happening to Tampines Central?
12years ago, i always joked that if Kinokuniya & Zara opens a store in Tampines, i would no longer need to go Orchard for shopping. however, this statement is no longer valid. that's why i'm always curious why would people who do not reside in Tampines want to come here for shopping & dining, as all the shops/eateries in Tampines Central can be found elsewhere. there is literally no shop or food outlet that is unique to Tampines & the crowd/Q is always insane. i think Changi City Point, Bedok Mall, malls in Paya Lebar Central & Jurong East (JEM & WestGate) has much more uniqueness to offer than Tampines Central.

shopping malls & physical stores are not exactly dying. instead, the shopping experience is evolving. it is the rental that is killing businesses.

guess the steep rental is stopping new names from setting up stores in Tampines. with its huge catchment, i'm surprised that Apple, Samsonite and Love Bonito (quite popular among ladies) does not have a branch in Tampines. Crumpler, Superdry, asics / Onitsuka Tiger, Calvin Klein, etc. does not have their presence here too.

food wise, there is no Greendot, Tsui Wah, Beauty in the pot, Shake Shack, Maxx Coffee, Huggs Coffee, Flash Coffee, Coffeesmith, Matchaya, Tsujiri, Baskin Robbins, Au Croissant, Curry Times, Collin's, Poulet, or Tung Lok cai png in Tampines Central. City Hot Pot and Fong Sheng Hao also rather open their latest outlet at Sengkang Grand Mall than here...

furthermore, Under Armour, Royal Sporting House, Baleno, Paris Baguette, Chicken Up, Menya Musashi, Yoshinoya, Spotlight, etc. exited and never return... it is also quite interesting and ironic to note that while the big (& more popular) names are leaving or avoiding Tampines Central, the cheapo shops are sprouting up here. i do wonder how these shops survive.

i do hope the 3 malls of Tampines could buck up & return to its prime.

In response to the consecutive closure of Crystal Jade Hong Kong Kitchen (one of the pioneer tenant of Tampines Mall), Fish & Co, Barcook Bakery, Hot Star Large Fried Chicken, Mahota Kitchen etc. within the past few months.

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What's happening to the malls of Tampines?   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Chinese New Year (CNY) 2007

20 February 2007

Every year, during the last few days before Chinese New Year (CNY), my family will do our CNY shopping at all CNY shopping locations across Tampines. Usually, we will cover the Town Centre (TC) and all Neighbourhood Centres (NC) scattered around Tampines. This CNY shopping trend continues to be my favourite highlight of CNY every year.

CNY shopping (15.2.07)
After the specialist review appointment, Mumy and I went to take a look at the new wing of Novena Square. After which, Mumy brought me to pray at Bugis Waterloo Street Kwanyin Temple and we started our CNY shopping at the Rochor / Bugis area... I bought a new OP T-shirt at OG and the highly anticipated "NANA 16" at Kinokuniya... Both of us continue to shop at Tampines Central...

Later that night, my family went to Tampines Neighbourhood 2 Centre (N2C) for dinner and some CNY shopping. As I was really bored, I started taking photos to document the CNY atmosphere of N2C. I am really looking forward to more CNY shopping tomorrow...


Tampines N2C (15.2.07)


Tampines N2C (15.2.07)

ECNYE shopping (16.2.07)
I woke out around 10am. After taking a shower and a hearty early lunch of beehoon, I embarked on my solo part of Eve of Chinese New Year (ECNYE) shopping at around 12pm. I purposely took the hour long bus #10 ride to Vivocity to recollect memories of Grade 5 Music Theory lesson and the numerous Saturday rehearsals of NDP 2006. It is also because as bus #10 starts from Tampines bus interchange, I will get a seat, which is important for me, as I am still nursing a fracture injury. Upon reaching the destination, I admit that I was really giddy...

After grabbing 9 long-wanted releases for just $45 at Vivocity music junction (MJ) on 2.2.07, I bought TRF's album "BRAND NEW TOMORROW" and 3 of their concert VCD "BRAND NEW TOMORROW IN TOKYO DOME ~PRESENTATION FOR 1996~", "TOUR '98 Live in Unite!" and "TOUR 1999 EXICOAST TOUR AT OSAKA Live" today. I purchased these 4 titles for just $20! At $5 each, these 13 purchases were absolutely value-for-money, considering that most of these releases are Out-Of-Print (OOP) now and retails that still sell them would usually charged a high price of $25 or more for each of them.

After some wandering at Vivocity and the cosy bookstore, I took bus #65 to Orchard. I bought Every Little Thing's acoustic album "ACOUSTIC : LATTE" at Orchard MRT Station CD-RAMA before returning home at around 5pm.

After a short rest at home, Mumy and I went to Tampines Neighbourhood 5 Centre (N5C) for some light shopping at around 6pm. This marked the beginning of the latter half of this year's ECNYE shopping. I bought BoA's 5th album "MADE IN TWENTY (20)" and Ito Yuna's 1st album "HEART" from Century Square Sembawang.

As I am determined to obtain ABRSM Music Theory Grade 8 this year (partly also because I am really bored and free due to my injury), I bought a copy of "A HANDBOOK OF MUSIC THEORY GRADES 6 - 8" from Yamaha for self-study.

To my greatest surprise, the long-awaited "The Official Singapore Street Directory 2007" has been published. Needless to say, I bought a copy of "The Official Singapore Street Directory 2007" at Tampines Mall Popular. This is one of my biggest dream come true.

My brother rode his bike to join us at around 7pm. We went to shop for some vegetable at Tampines N5C before going home.


Tampines N5C (16.2.07)

After another short rest at home, we reached the climax of tonight's ECNYE shopping. At around 9pm, the whole family went to Tampines Neighbourhood 1 Centre (N1C) for our annual ECNYE shopping pilgrimage. We had lor mee for dinner at 137 food centre first, before we carry on to shop at the market for the delicious handmade meatball, braised duck and roast meat. After buying a walnut cake from prima deli, we returned home to put down our purchases before heading to our local Tampines Neighbourhood 4 Centre (N4C) for the finale of ECNYE shopping. N4C looks empty, as if it had been badly "raided" during an emergency.

It is a fulfilling day with tons of purchases. The most notable purchase (of cause) would be "The Official Singapore Street Directory 2007"!


Tampines N1C (16.2.07)


Cakes @ Tampines N1C (16.2.07)

CNYE (17.2.07)
I woke up very late on Chinese New Year (CNYE) at 3pm. Reunion steamboat started rather late this year, at 7pm...


Reunion Dinner (17.2.07)

CNY 2007 (18.2.07 ~ 20.2.07)
Despite sleeping rather early on CNYE at 2am, I woke up rather late again on CNY1 at 12pm... Sick and tired of explaining my injury again and again, I decided not to go to Ah Mah house at the very last minute, which is the first time I did not go for CNY visiting...

I continue to sleep early on CNY1 and CNY2, before 1am, and I woke up very late at 2pm for CNY2 and CNY3... Out of the blue, I decided to curfew myself from using my computer for all 4 days of CNY for no particular reason, and I make it. I realized that my daily routine for these 4 days are basically rinse & shine, late lunch, watch TV, dinner, watch TV and sleep... I did not do anything that is particularly interesting, but I guess this CNY will be memorable, due to my injury...


lion dance

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Chinese New Year (CNY) 2007   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.