SUBURBAN SHOPPING MALLS IN SINGAPORE : THE NEW GENERATION

Abstract

Singapore's retail scene has undergone tremendous change since the post-war years. In the 1990s, the introduction of what can be argued to be a new generation of planned shopping malls in the suburbs signals yet another transitional step for the local retail scene. Fusing shopping, leisure and entertainment under one roof these malls have completely revolutionised the old ideas of shopping centres and brought with them a new concept in shopping centre retail. For these malls are not only bigger, their retail mix is largely different from their older counterparts'. Anchored by tenants that were traditionally based in Orchard Road, these new malls also signify the increasing trend of retail suburbanisation in Singapore. Located in Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates, they look set to change the geography of shopping centre retail. What are the reasons for the recent emergence of these new malls? Why have they chosen to locate in HDB estates, places which have a history of low-cost housing and low income residents? What about the HDB town and neighbourhood centres - the traditional core of retailing in these housing estates? How have the new malls affected them? How have these new malls altered the retailing and shopping patterns in these housing estates? These are the main questions which are explored in this Honours Thesis. Through personal interviews with the management of the malls and surveys carried out on retailers and shoppers in both sets of establishment, it is hoped that a deeper understanding of the phenomenon will be attained. With the help of concepts borrowed from Ullman's Theory of Spatial Interaction, issues like transferability, complementarity and intervening opportunity will be examined with reference to the relationship between the malls, HDB centres and shoppers.