Death of the Singapore Shopping Scene

The Great Singapore Sale is coming, already many retail outlets are already preparing for that with all the pre-GSS sales as I saw in town this weekend. Definitely it is a time for many good buys but let's talk about variety. Singapore is being widely publicized round the globe as one of Asia's shopping paradise. The Singapore Tourism Board has always been pushing Singapore in her shopping arena,in soon to come Orchard is going to be revamped and more shopping malls coming up such as Ion and the new Orchard Central. Is our shopping scene really revitalizing? I would probably think that we are actually courting our own death if we're only using shopping to win the hearts of tourists but luckily we don't.

Let's look at all the major shopping malls at Orchard, City Hall the greatest Vivo City, does anyone actually spots any similarities? Each of all the shopping malls actually have the same few shops, from the Wing Tai Chain of Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins etc to others such as Zara, FCUK to our best seller local shoe chain, Charles & Keith and of course, the usuals such as Giordano and Bossini or Hang-Ten. Not surprisingly, we can now actually find our usuals and some slightly upmarket retail outlet right in our heartlands. We can have all the different malls around but what is the point if there is really no product differentiation among the malls. It probably boils down to globalisation with all international labels featuring on our shores but seriously not all of the same in all malls? I am sure the world doesn't just have that few big brands.Maybe the whole entrepreneurship campaign ain't that really kicking - new retailers to bring in other brands.

Besides the same few names that we see everywhere, shoppers here can be glad that places such as Far East Plaza,Haji Lane and Ann Siang still do exists, away from all the big labels, we have a handful of nice, tasteful stuff we are able to get from here if not I reckon all Singaporeans going to look the same. Well, the sale is still going on, there's still no harm to grab whatever we like in such an occasion, after all it is the Great Singapore Sale, and it does extend to more than fashion. Good Luck to all banging in on the GSS 2008 but please try to maintain your image though there may be stuff really worth fighting for!Before I forget, I must give credit to Apple for highlighting this so thank you there!