http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakin...alls-colin-tan/

The Malaysian Insider
Breaking Views
Downtown malls vs suburban malls — Colin Tan
Apr 22, 2011

APRIL 22 — The results of a recent survey of tourist destinations released by the Association of Singapore Attractions last week were an eye-opener.

In spite of our island city receiving a record 11.6 million visitors last year — due in no small part to the debut of our two integrated resorts — nearly half of the 31 attractions surveyed reported a fall in the number of visitors — by up to 28 per cent in some cases.

With the exception of the China market, a closer look at our tourism statistics shows that it was the regional markets — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam — which registered the strongest growth rates.

A former student intern from Bandung, Indonesia, told me it was much more convenient for her and her friends to come to Singapore via the budget airlines than for them to go to Jakarta for their entertainment and shopping. The flight time was also shorter. Budget airlines have certainly brought the regional markets a lot closer to Singapore, which is conveniently positioned in a central location.

The uneven performance of tourist destinations in Singapore is also probably true for our downtown malls. Some are doing very well, while others are fast losing their allure. Aside from the booming suburban shopping centres, it appears that the rest of the industry is going through a shake-out. And it appears that no downtown mall is spared, even the seemingly-successful new ones.

Landlords of suburban malls have found the winning formula for pulling in the crowds within their catchment areas. Find a location, preferably adjacent to, or better still, atop an MRT station. Next, put in a cineplex, food court and a huge supermarket. Any other attraction or anchor tenant is a bonus.

However, what works for suburban malls does not necessarily hold true for the downtown ones.

Two of the more successful downtown malls in my opinion — Takashimaya and Centrepoint - are not the closest to the MRT stations in their locations. And you can certainly pick malls which disappoint although they are the nearest to the exit points of the train stations.

In the past, downtown malls attracted the affluent and a stream of local shoppers from all corners of the island. Today, they have lost a significant proportion of their domestic market to suburban malls. Local shoppers need a good reason to visit the city malls. One of these is to meet friends and that is why there are a lot more F&B outlets and fine dining restaurants in the downtown malls. However, meeting friends is most convenient only in the evenings and at weekends.

Compared to a decade ago, there has also been a tripling or quadrupling of shop space in the downtown areas. So, there is definitely more competition. Frequent traffic jams and high parking charges are also limiting the number of trips made by the affluent segment. The pool of resident city shoppers is definitely smaller.

Fortunately, our integrated resorts have come to the rescue. Because of them, there are a lot more visitors to Singapore. Take a train in the city during working hours and you will find foreigners outnumbering locals by at least four to one. Besides English, I have overheard chatter in Bahasa, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, French and the odd African and Eastern European language.

I understand that well-to-do Indonesians like Takashimaya and shops in Ngee Ann City. Many are repeat customers. Once in Singapore, they waste no time and head straight to their favourite malls and shops. This is because they already know the service standards and the quality of the merchandise. However, this can only happen if there is stability of tenants. These shoppers do not have much time to window shop or look around elsewhere.

There are no detailed statistics to show it but I believe most of our recent arrivals from the region are frequent visitors, which may explain the drop or fluctuations in attendance for some tourist destinations.

I think downtown malls need to recognise that finding a market niche — which is tough in itself — is no longer enough but stability of tenants is just as important with the current profile of visitor arrivals.

So maximising rentals today — by quickly replacing existing tenants with higher paying ones - may be working wonders for suburban malls but it is counter-productive to the longer term success of the downtown mall. — Today

* Colin Tan is head of research and consultancy at Chesterton Suntec International.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

This post has been edited by kh8668: Apr 22 2011, 02:09 PM

I went there after CNY and my mind already decide this is going to be a failure when I see China national open shops to sell cheap China goods that you can find in pasar malam.

One more things is that there are no public transport there and if they think they going to survive with ss2 folks, then they be dead wrong.

no offices nearby, transport/ bus problem etc no attractions at all for people to visit the place.

cineplex is out due heavy investment.
food court depends on the rental there whereas alot of restaurant/food outlet already open and competition is great.

huge supermarket unless the management have special arrangement with tesco/carefour/giant for them to open else is difficult

Problem is the management and rental wise as well as renovations will kill the business there.

eg.
telco like maxis from tmn tun shift to ss2 mall in order to minimise the jam and find a car park just to bills at the tmn tun.

This post has been edited by lowyat888: Apr 22 2011, 02:56 PM

Let us discuss also, how to turn/make SSTWO Mall alive.

Any idea?

some drillz yo

There were rumours bout Giant being the anchor tenant some time back but I guess it fell through just like when they mentioned the Jusco would be the AT

I got a feeling SSTWO mall wont go far since the beginning. Even the name itself is a derivative of the area its suposed to be in. Cant they be anymore creative or classy?

when people ask: Where did you go just yesterday? The answer "sstwo" verbally also people think they are referring to the original ss2 area.

How to generate "word-of-mouth" publicity? The marketing team are left with poorly-made and hard-to-undo decision by the owner of the mall.

Imagine if One Utama mall was named BandarOotama. definitely will be a bummer then.

This post has been edited by alanyuppie: Apr 22 2011, 03:14 PM

kekekeke

Q: Where did you go?

A: SSTWO Mall in SS2.

it will not be easy to revive a dying mall..
regardless it is a shopping mall, hyper market or jusco...
hehehhehehee

challenging job huh...

Imaging you own SSTWO Mall now, what should/will you do to revive the activities in the mall?

give incentive MBO/TGV/GSC to open cinema there, with free parking will slowly prosper la.

i don't the mall is designed for cineplex space.

---

Added on April 22, 2011, 4:45 pmWhat make Centre Point @ Bandar utama happening?

This post has been edited by kh8668: Apr 22 2011, 04:45 PM

of coz free parking .. they actually wan to pay for parking .. u can see all the touch n go is ready to setup ..
but no ppl go .. if still charge for parking die lagi cepat

1) lower the rental price
2) free shuttle to SS2 Mall
3) Pull in more digital tenants
4) More LED lighting at facade
5) Must have at least KFC/Mc donald/ Starbucks/Coffea Beans tenants
6) More adverts

If cant fulfill even 2 of the above 5 years time its just a irritating building next door !

Just my 2 yen !

Target a quality anchor tenant prefebaly hypermarket - Jusco or at least Cold Storage. Using the anchor tenant's influence, recruit afew minor anchor like Ace, ToyRUs, McD, Old town ect. All that had to be done during construction stage not after opening and closing down stage

Cater more for family emphasis on children / toddlers. Have week-end bazaars and other minor activities?

Malaysians have been spoilt with hypermall likes 1U and Mid Valley that anything smaller or specialised will not survive. Another thing is the intense competition. In Australia, they tend to survey areas before allowing anything to be built. Hypermall will be minimal. You probably need at least 500,000 population before they allow one to be built and probably nothing else nearby. Even then, their hypermall is so much smaller than likes of 1U and MV. Just see the distance between 1U, MV and Curve. It is not easy for anything nearby to survive.

yeah yeah yeah..i see some positive contributions.

keep it guys, I believe the management is trying to make some changes.

agree. too many of them, too big. a few more will come and go in the next decade.

everybody hopes everybody else will spend at these malls to keep the place prosperous, but really, i doubt many spend that much $ at these malls.

esp now got to pay so much for new house, better stick to kopishops.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Apr 22 2011, 05:06 PM

I drove pass SSTWO mall when coming to work on weekdays.

Before SSTWO came up, the houses opposite must be happy to have it right in front of the doorstep (wow.. such amenities!).

But they have lost a plot of precious spot in front of their house for guests/own to park their cars. Even the plants they planted were removed to make way for sidewalk half-a-feet thick protruding next to their main gates. I think this is to avoid visitors to the mall from illegal parking in front of the residental house.

This post has been edited by alanyuppie: Apr 22 2011, 05:07 PM

I think Atria is undergoing plans of renovation or re-building. Will these two other malls survive since SS2 mall looks obscure. Do agree, a well known supermarket / hypermarket alike & cinema will be a major factor in attracting crowd. Do we really need more 'neighbourhood malls since there are already a handful of hypermarts, 1U, Tropicana City Mall, Mid Valley, etc within short drive away.