THE DIMINISHING RELEVANCE OF DEPARTMENT STORES IN SINGAPORE: CAN DEPARTMENT STORES STILL SERVE AS A CROWD PULLER TO THE MALL?

Abstract

The department stores have traditionally been the anchor tenants for shopping malls. In Singapore, the department stores had enjoyed much success in the 1980s, with many Japanese department stores setting up branches in Singapore to ride on Singapore’s tremendous economic growth. Over the decades, the department stores in Singapore have faced with dwindling fortunes. This research aims to find out whether department stores can still serve as anchor tenants to the mall. It is hypothesized that the younger generation (less than 30 years old) are less likely to be attracted to the mall for the department store as compared to the older generation (30 years old and more), thus leading to a diminishing relevance of the department stores in functioning as anchor tenants to the malls as the younger generation inevitably replaces the older generation as main consumers in a decade or so. Using the ANOVA test, a significant difference between the means of the different age groups is observed in whether they are attracted to the mall as a result of them being attracted to the department stores. It is found that the department stores play a less significant role in attracting the younger generation as compared to the older generation. In-depth interviews conducted to look into the reasons as to why the younger generation is less likely to be attracted to the shopping mall for the department stores found that the younger population does visit the department stores but rarely. The common dissatisfaction of the department stores among the young is the lack of varieties that suit them and the poor image of the department stores.