This week saw the opening of nex, yet another shopping center and a huge one at that (by Singapore standards anyway), around the size of Ion Orchard. Just last month, Marina Bay Link Mall opened for business. And earlier in the year, City Square Mall. With the opening of Ion Orchard, 313 Somerset, Orchard Central and Iluma last year, I think its safe to say we now have a glut of malls. And a few ghost towns in the making.
On the surface, all these new shopping space should be good for consumers in terms of convenience and choice. If you are living near the suburban malls then it couldn't be more convenient. But as consumers, we still lose out in terms of variety as the new malls do not introduce many new brands or concepts to the market. So the same tried and tested high street and mass market brands proliferate. They are the only brands that can afford the high rents.
But do we really need more of these shops? There is an infinite variety of merchandise out there which we are not exposed to or aware of. I feel as consumers in general, we are not adventurous enough to try brands we haven't heard of. The sad thing is I often hear people lamenting about shops in Singapore being boring then go on to buy only high street brands.
All these new malls might not be good for the landlords either. The newer, bigger malls will draw customers away from its neighbours. Like what the Tampines malls did to Eastpoint Mall and 313 Somerset to The Heeren. I'll be worried if I'm a tenant in Hougang Mall now. At the losing malls, customer traffic will drop to a trickle resulting in tenants closing and overall drop in rental receipts.
Another sign of oversupply of retail space can be gleaned from the many empty units in some malls (The Heeren, Central, Chinatown Point) to low traffic in some (Orchard Central, Iluma, Liang Court). A more worrying sign is the appearance of empty units in popular shopping centers such as Plaza Singapura and Raffles City. Location cannot be a reason as some of these malls are in Orchard Road and let's not forget how crowded Liang Court was in its heyday (no MRT station near it then either). Its obvious supply of shop space and rentals have gone way ahead of customer numbers.
The vibrancy of Singapore's retail scene cannot be improved just by increasing the number of malls without a corresponding increase in the variety of merchandise offered. Its only with variety and when the general populace can appreciate this diversity that we become more discerning consumers.
