Orchard Road, Almost Unrecognisable
14th December 2009, Monday
Heading down the final stretch before basking in my alone time at home, no usual hustle and bustle in the train, no gay sashaying from the Beautiness, no unreasonable bullcrap from Shitty Green etc.
Seriously I had not been looking forward to a period of clearing leave as of this year with workload almost asphyxiating at the tail end of the year which drove me to the wall.
One lingering problem would be that I might not be able to complete the things I set out to do during my "retreat" especially since I starting to adopt a laissez faire attitude and let things unfold daily as I welcome the new year.
I definitely need plenty of discipline and maximise the limited amount of time at hand.
Over the weekend, there was supposed to be a mini La Tendo clique meet up at Kinokuniya main branch in Ngee Ann City which imploded as none of them showed up as it transpired, leaving me and the missus just have a glimpse of the chances in the facade of the new lease of life in Singapore's premier shopping street.
It was well documented that a lot of attention drawn away from the road that people expended wads of preciously-accumulated dollar notes rather than just plucking apples and other fruity contemporaries.
However since the exciting development of ION Orchard which really changed the landscape at that part of the Orchard road for me, it was soon joined by the likes of Orchard Central, the reincarnation of Specialist Shopping Center, soon to be complete Mandarin Gallery, a prime shopping stretch before Mandarin Meritus Hotel, the extension for Paragon and now the new boy in town Somerset 313.
The newly constructed malls were aggressively as they leaned precariously close to the main traffic unlike the older siblings like Ngee Ann City and Wisma Atria which were receded inwards.
By better making use of the land, these malls actually have more space for the big boys in retailing to hog their square feet of space.
The whole feel as I think I mentioned about ION Orchard definitely ascended Orchard Road to be comparative to the well known shopping districts in Asia or even the World, the immediate one that I had thought of would be Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.
However while the external was glistering (especially with the Christmas ornaments), the real deal as in the choice of retailers had not been too swashbuckling.
The new wave of retailing focus on the premier brands as the Nouveau riche from China and of course Indonesian expats can pour their wealth without the need to travel great distances, only to be despised for their crude behaviours by the Europeans.
Of course the local caught on the fever in this materialistic climate but seriously how many can afford a diamond-studded Franck Muller timepiece which worth half a million?!
The second wave was to bring in novelty brands which had been rousing in other parts of the world, sometime back to Singapore.
GAP tried its best but not good enough, Muji somehow reached his plateau in terms on recapturing the local buyers but the star of the moment definitely belonged Uniqlo.
The ambitious affordable clothing line which made its staple stronghold in Japan looked to win the hearts of fad-crazy Singaporeans who definitely was allured by the slew of megastores opening around the island.
I had been a big advocate of Uniqlo, known for its durability and offering good style at a reasonable price; but even now I just abstained of visiting a branch when I head to Japan.
From the papers, while new food business ventures are sprawling around town, others like Wendy's and TGI Fridays are making a comeback to give us more selection over time.
While it is good to see new faces in the retailing market, the shopping option in Singapore is still very limited in terms of selection which really became exhaustive once you get around.
The usual Mac Donald. Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Watson, Guardians, City Chain, City Optics, G2000, Comic Connection, Old Chang Kee , so on and so for really left little for imagination and Singapore shoppers, being highly conservative yet the fad chasers do not wince at seeing the same shit over and over again.
Nevertheless it's the season to splurge even though we ought to stay frugal and be stringent with the expenditure but one can't help himself/herself, the real damage will come this Saturday when we actually take the time to search for the suitable purchases...
Heading down the final stretch before basking in my alone time at home, no usual hustle and bustle in the train, no gay sashaying from the Beautiness, no unreasonable bullcrap from Shitty Green etc.
Seriously I had not been looking forward to a period of clearing leave as of this year with workload almost asphyxiating at the tail end of the year which drove me to the wall.
One lingering problem would be that I might not be able to complete the things I set out to do during my "retreat" especially since I starting to adopt a laissez faire attitude and let things unfold daily as I welcome the new year.
I definitely need plenty of discipline and maximise the limited amount of time at hand.
Over the weekend, there was supposed to be a mini La Tendo clique meet up at Kinokuniya main branch in Ngee Ann City which imploded as none of them showed up as it transpired, leaving me and the missus just have a glimpse of the chances in the facade of the new lease of life in Singapore's premier shopping street.
It was well documented that a lot of attention drawn away from the road that people expended wads of preciously-accumulated dollar notes rather than just plucking apples and other fruity contemporaries.
However since the exciting development of ION Orchard which really changed the landscape at that part of the Orchard road for me, it was soon joined by the likes of Orchard Central, the reincarnation of Specialist Shopping Center, soon to be complete Mandarin Gallery, a prime shopping stretch before Mandarin Meritus Hotel, the extension for Paragon and now the new boy in town Somerset 313.
The newly constructed malls were aggressively as they leaned precariously close to the main traffic unlike the older siblings like Ngee Ann City and Wisma Atria which were receded inwards.
By better making use of the land, these malls actually have more space for the big boys in retailing to hog their square feet of space.
The whole feel as I think I mentioned about ION Orchard definitely ascended Orchard Road to be comparative to the well known shopping districts in Asia or even the World, the immediate one that I had thought of would be Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.
However while the external was glistering (especially with the Christmas ornaments), the real deal as in the choice of retailers had not been too swashbuckling.
The new wave of retailing focus on the premier brands as the Nouveau riche from China and of course Indonesian expats can pour their wealth without the need to travel great distances, only to be despised for their crude behaviours by the Europeans.
Of course the local caught on the fever in this materialistic climate but seriously how many can afford a diamond-studded Franck Muller timepiece which worth half a million?!
The second wave was to bring in novelty brands which had been rousing in other parts of the world, sometime back to Singapore.
GAP tried its best but not good enough, Muji somehow reached his plateau in terms on recapturing the local buyers but the star of the moment definitely belonged Uniqlo.
The ambitious affordable clothing line which made its staple stronghold in Japan looked to win the hearts of fad-crazy Singaporeans who definitely was allured by the slew of megastores opening around the island.
I had been a big advocate of Uniqlo, known for its durability and offering good style at a reasonable price; but even now I just abstained of visiting a branch when I head to Japan.
From the papers, while new food business ventures are sprawling around town, others like Wendy's and TGI Fridays are making a comeback to give us more selection over time.
While it is good to see new faces in the retailing market, the shopping option in Singapore is still very limited in terms of selection which really became exhaustive once you get around.
The usual Mac Donald. Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Watson, Guardians, City Chain, City Optics, G2000, Comic Connection, Old Chang Kee , so on and so for really left little for imagination and Singapore shoppers, being highly conservative yet the fad chasers do not wince at seeing the same shit over and over again.
Nevertheless it's the season to splurge even though we ought to stay frugal and be stringent with the expenditure but one can't help himself/herself, the real damage will come this Saturday when we actually take the time to search for the suitable purchases...
Japanese word of the day: 流行 (Fad) Are you a newborn Uniqlo sucker?
Labels: Singapore
posted by Kei at
10:13 AM
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