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Tag: Orchard Road

  • Braun Buffel unveils new store design at Ion Orchard

    Braun Buffel unveils new store design at Ion Orchard

    Braun Buffel has launched its new store concept at Ion Orchard in Singapore, creating a brand experience with multiple physical and digital touch-points.

    The store’s facade features Champagne-gold fonts against soft white frames. To create a modern look, marble stone tiles in light grey with streaks of white tones are used. Hand-brushed finishes on the cement provide a three-dimensional textured effect on both the floors and walls. Pastel rose pink is chosen as the themed color for the walls.

    The Braun Buffel store at Ion Orchard has also unveiled its Spring/Summer 2020 collection with the theme of “Individualism” featuring different selections for men and women.

    Founded 1887, Braun Buffel is exclusively distributed in the Asia Pacific region by Lianbee-Jeco, and has boutiques in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, Ion Orchard, VivoCity, Suntec City Mall, Westgate, and Terminals 2 & 3 (Departure/Transit Lounge) at Changi Airport, as well as counters in selected department stores.

  • Crate & Barrel Singapore closing down store

    Crate & Barrel Singapore closing down store

    Crate & Barrel Singapore will close its flagship store at Orchard Gateway.

    The 25,000sqft five-story outlet has operated at the location for five years, but will close on November 10. That will leave the US home furnishing brand with just one store, at Ion Orchard, however, the brand’s e-commerce platform will continue to trade.

    A statement released by Crate & Barrel Singapore revealed intentions to expand into Malaysia, adding that this “will help increase our brand visibility and representation in today’s retail marketplace, specifically in the Southeast Asia region”.

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  • Bottega Veneta gets a new look in Singapore

    Bottega Veneta gets a new look in Singapore

    The Bottega Veneta Singapore boutique at Ion Orchard has undergone a major makeover.

    The 255sqm store has been fully renovated in time to celebrate the arrival of the first Bottega Veneta collection designed by new creative director Daniel Lee.

    Under the theme of lightness, the space now has a new sense of openness and modernity. Walls are painted bright white or covered in plaster with a Roman ‘travertine texture’.

    Floors are covered with dark ivory limestone and pale carpets, while the ceiling is pure white.

    A pale-hued Antique Oak is used throughout the store to create linear shelves and glass-topped display tables.

    Opened in Singapore in 2009, with the first store at Takashimaya, Bottega Veneta now has four branches in the city.

  • Manifesto opens first Mandarin Gallery flagship

    Manifesto opens first Mandarin Gallery flagship

    Multi-brand concept store Manifesto has opened a new flagship store on Singapore’s Orchard Road. Manifesto’s new space in Mandarin Gallery envelopes guests in “the stark and abstract beauty of the Saharan landscape”, featuring sand colours and organic rock-like contours.

    Inspired by North African architecture, the store uses natural desert hues to reflect the warmth and hospitality. The entrance recalls a nomadic tent, highlighted by LED lights.

    “The design direction reflects our philosophy. We want to welcome customers, wanderers, the same way Bedouins welcome strangers under their tent,” said Manifesto founder Walid Zaazaa.

    The new store offers more than 30 brands encompassing fashion, streetwear and lifestyle accessories, including a curation of hard-to-find brands in Southeast Asia: APC, Lemaire, and Axel Arigato.

    “The most important selling point of our product is scarcity. We have brands of different aesthetic, origin and prices. The common thread between them is how they express their identity through products that are easily wearable, made with outstanding quality, and have interesting stories,” Zaazaa added. The multi-use concrete cashier counter was cast on site and infused with red pigment.

  • Design Orchard mall to open end of the month

    Design Orchard mall to open end of the month

    Design Orchard mall is set to open on January 25 hosting 61 homegrown labels. The new Orchard Road mall, a joint venture between the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), JTC Corporation and Enterprise Singapore, is conceived of as a home and exhibition space for local design work. It features a 9000sqft first-floor retail showcase, second floor incubation spaces, and a rooftop events area. The first level is currently leased to local retailer Naiise.

    Featured supports for local designers include co-working spaces provided by Taff – equipped with professional sewing equipment, a fabric library and collaboration and networking opportunities with industry players – and a mentorship program from Naiise covering marketing and merchandising.

    “Singapore is home to many global brands,” explained STB’s director of retail and dining Ranita Sundra, of the rational behind Design Orchard mall.

    “As these brands become more ubiquitous, we noticed that more people are drawn to local products with a Singapore story. Design Orchard is thus an exciting opportunity for us to profile the best of Singapore talent under one roof.”

    “We hope that it will inspire local talents to join the community, where they can develop and grow their brands with access to mentors, programmes and facilities in a vibrant space along Orchard Road,” added director of products at JTC Wee Pei Yean.

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  • Marcelo Burlon Opens First Flagship Store in Singapore

    Marcelo Burlon Opens First Flagship Store in Singapore

    Italian fashion label Marcelo Burlon has launched a Singapore flagship store on Orchard Road. The Marcelo Burlon Singapore store – the brand’s first in Southesast Asia, will offer a comprehensive range of the brand’s most recent collections, as well as the latest collaborations with NBA and MLB. Exclusive T-shirts were released to celebrate the store’s opening.

    The venue’s interior design reflects the Patagonian roots of the popular designer, who was personally present to attend the launch.

     

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  • Orchard Road retail vacancy rate free jump

    Orchard Road retail vacancy rate free jump

    The Orchard Road retail vacancy rate has dropped to 5.6 per cent in the second quarter.

    According to a report by CBRE, the rate is the lowest in 14 quarters and well below 2016 figures.

    CBRE’s head of research for Southeast Asia Desmond Sim said, “On the back of an improved tourism market, coupled with limited new supply along our famous shopping belt, Orchard Road is still able to attract new tenants.”

    Noting that new-to-market brands still require and demand visible frontages with high footfall, Sim cautioned that there may be vacancies on secondary corridors and secondary floors.

    Meanwhile, senior director of research at Cushman & Wakefield, Christine Li, said, “A two-tier market is forming in the retail segment, as accessible and well-managed malls attract the bulk of pedestrian footfall.

    Retailers and landlords have to continue to reinvent themselves, invest in technology and focus on lifestyle and activity-based experiences to keep pace with the fast-changing retail landscape.”

    This year’s new openings were largely in the food and beverage and fashion categories.

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  • Takashimaya is more losing money than profit

    Takashimaya is more losing money than profit

    Just one of Japanese department store chain Takashimaya’s three overseas stores is currently trading at a profit.

    But the company says it believes it can make them all profitable by 2023, including a fourth store set to open in Bangkok late this year.

    The successful store is on Singapore’s Orchard Road, which opened in 1993 and is reportedly earning more than 3 billion yen (US$27.2 million) annually.

    The chain’s Shanghai store, which opened in 2012, has been hampered by delays in the completion of neighbouring projects which would have drawn higher visitor numbers, along with administration costs running over budget. According to a report published by Nikkei, the store is expected to post its seventh consecutive loss in the 12 months to February next year, but should make money in 2020.

    The Ho Chi Minh City store in Vietnam, which opened in 2016, has “struggled from the start” according to Nikkei, its offer apparently too expensive for middle-class Vietnamese consumers. The company plans to boost sales by “broadening offerings of everyday items for families” which it hopes will lead it into profit in the 2022 year.

    The planned Siam Takashimaya store will be one of the anchors of Siam Piwat’s IconSiam, currently under construction and scheduled to open late this year – possibly in October.

    Takashimaya anticipates the Bangkok store to be profitable in its first year, thanks to rent concessions.

    The company’s president, Shigeru Kimoto, said it plans to continue Southeast Asian expansion, despite the challenges to date because it sees potential in the region.

    “In the long term, we seek to capitalise on Asia’s growth,” he said.

  • The Dark Gallery opens a second cafe and boutique on Orchard Road

    The Dark Gallery opens a second cafe and boutique on Orchard Road

    The Dark Gallery has launched a second cafe and boutique on Orchard Road, featuring a menu that differs from its debut outpost at Millenia Walk.

    In the basement of Takashimaya Shopping Centre, The Dark Gallery is set up to tempt window shoppers with its showcase of ice cream, bon bons, cakes and pastries.

    Its 40-seat dine-in area has a black and gold colour scheme with marble tabletops. The store features Singapore’s first Mod-Bar pour-over and steam system, which is said to extract and render a top brew and milk foam for coffee or chocolate.

    Exclusive is the Four Senses of Chocolate, concoctions of The Dark Gallery’s signature 66 per cent dark chocolate in four drink varieties (Savoury, Sangria, Sucre and Spice).

    Pastries on offer include chocolate croissants, maple chocolate brioche, dark chocolate scone, ice cream cookie, chocolate soufflé, bon bons, pralines and cakes – even a Croque Monsieur.

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  • Desigual Singapore unveils new store in Singapore

    Desigual Singapore unveils new store in Singapore

    Desigual Singapore reopens its Orchard Road store today, the first to feature the fashion brand’s new design concept with its customer-oriented shopping experience.

    The 300sqm space will also be the first Singapore outlet for the brand’s sports category, along with women’s and men’s shoes and accessories.

    Created in collaboration with architect Lazaro Rosa Violan, the store draws its inspiration from the Mediterranean with bright tones and such elements as coffered walls.

    Desigual’s sports category features garments designed for women who want to embrace physical exercise while still following fashion trends.

    Established in Barcelona in 1984, Desigual has more than 4500 employees and a presence in nearly 100 countries through 13 sales channels, more than 500 branded stores and eight product categories.

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  • Orchard Road must not lose its bloom

    Orchard Road must not lose its bloom

    Orchard Road has had many incarnations. It got its name from the many nutmeg and fruit orchards that existed in the last century. It has always been an important street, connecting the residential area of Tanglin to the business and commercial areas of Raffles Place and High Street. At one point, the road hosted car showrooms and even a sprawling cemetery. Its current incarnation as Singapore’s premier shopping belt began in the 1960s after the area was zoned for retail. The grand plan to shape Orchard Road’s future in the next 15 to 20 years should look back at these transformations – save the cemetery, of course – even as it looks ahead.

    Incremental efforts are important, no doubt. For example, a Shibuya-style scramble walk is on trial; it may be replicated if it is successful. Adding to the area’s ambience will be an initiative under which, from next July, smoking in public areas will be allowed only at designated areas within the smoke-free zone. However, if Orchard Road is to bloom again, these moves must become a part of a master plan that takes unpleasant realities into unsentimental account.

    Chief among those realities is that shopping may not continue to be the primary activity with which the road is associated. The proliferation of shopping malls around the country gives shoppers more choice than they once had. Also, online shopping is challenging brick-and-mortar stores around the world. In the United States, for example, several leading department store chains have lost value in recent years, and department stores have shed 500,000 jobs since the beginning of this century. Although shopping will continue to attract tourists to Orchard Road, its stores will have to ride on the global trajectory of marrying traditional and online retailing, for example by having smaller stores with limited inventories complement expanding online operations.

    The larger need is to look beyond shopping itself. One way for Orchard Road is to recreate the times when it was a “happening” place because of famous nightspots and roaring discos. The road must not die at night. During the day as well, parts of the belt could be redeveloped in the form of buildings which house civic facilities that attract crowds. Arts venues for concerts and performances, multi-purpose sports hubs, theme parks within malls, or a children’s centre that makes the area family-friendly are ways to rejuvenate the road.

    These should be considered seriously. The problem now is that Orchard Road’s iconic centrality as a shopping belt in the tourist imagination makes it difficult to refashion the purpose of the place. But it is not a zero-sum game. Local shoppers will have more reason to visit the place if they are attracted by other amenities as well. Orchard Road cannot remain frozen in time.

  • German burger chain Hans Im Gluck opens in Singapore

    German burger chain Hans Im Gluck opens in Singapore

    Following a holiday in Singapore last year, a restaurateur couple has returned to open a casual gourmet burger restaurant, Hans Im Gluck, in Orchard Road.

    The brand’s 50th outlet and first outpost in Asia, it specialises in vegan, vegetarian, beef and chicken burgers served alongside salads, tea infusions and cocktails.

     

     

    Hans Im Gluck was launched seven years ago by Gunilla Hirschberger, a vegan, who set herself the goal of shaking up Germany’s meat-focused dining scene. The 53-year-old Munich-based Swede saw a gap in the market for vegan-friendly offerings at burger restaurants, and with her German husband Thomas Hirschberger opened the first Hans Im Gluck in 2010, named after a German fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.

    They now run 49 outlets in Germany and Austria, with more coming up in Italy and Switzerland.

    Meanwhile, the Singapore restaurant is in a purpose-built outlet between International Building and the Royal Thai Embassy. Next year, the couple will open two more outlets – at Boat Quay and at Republic Plaza, Raffles Place.

    For 15 years, the Hirschbergers ran a Californian-Mexican restaurant chain with 40 outlets across Germany, which they have since sold. When they visited Singapore they say they felt an instant connection to the city.

    “Singapore has a good spirit and is full of different kinds of cultures. People here are open-minded and happy to see new things,” says Gunilla. “The city is innovative and has a good flow.”

    Their Singapore store features imported German-made oak furniture and 180 birch logs, installed throughout the restaurant to resemble a German forest. The menu, which looks like a children’s storybook, features 30 burgers.

    It has its own sauces including vegan mayonnaise and orange mustard, as well as multigrain and sourdough buns made exclusively for the chain and sent frozen from Germany.

    At 4000sqft (370sqm) and seating 180 diners, the restaurant is small compared with the German outlets, of which 23 are family-owned. Those restaurants are usually about 10,000sqft with about 400 seats, excluding the terrace.

    The Singapore restaurants are wholly owned by the Hirschbergers, and the chain is looking to expand into other parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Taipei.

  • Minion Cafe Opens at Singapore Central

    Minion Cafe Opens at Singapore Central

    A Singapore Minions Cafe has opened at Orchard Central – the first one to trade outside Japan.

    Minions, the yellow cartoon characters who made their debut in the Despicable Me movies and have now spurned their own films, will host diners on the mall’s third floor until January 31.

    Minions Cafe Sg

     

    The Minions said ‘bello’ – which is their language for ‘hello’ in five Japanese cities to coincide with the premiere of the Despicable Me 3 movie.

    The themed character cafe has a menu with 14 options inspired by the movie characters. Exclusive movie merchandise will also be sold on-site.

    The Singapore Minions Cafe popup is operated by Japanese cafe, The Guest Cafe & Diner, which collaborates with a different popular character every two to three months.

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  • Singapore Christmas village planned for Orchard Road

    Singapore Christmas village planned for Orchard Road

    Drawing inspiration from Europe, a Singapore Christmas village featuring pop-up stores from 25 brands, will make its debut at the annual Orchard Road light-up this year.

    Outside Ngee Ann City from November 25 to Christmas Day, the village will feature such brands as Fish & Co, Starbucks and Toast Box, with Singapore’s first-ever duplex carousel.

    “Christmas villages are very popular in Europe,” says Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) chairman Mark Shaw. “It will be a good opportunity for retailers to reach out to customers.”

    Running from November 11 to January 1, the ninth edition of Christmas on a Great Street will be themed “Endless Wonder”. Highlights will include the event’s highest-ever main arch, reaching 12m, outside Ion Orchard and a 5m Enchanted Tree installation outside Wisma Atria.

    Activities along the 2.8km stretch between Plaza Singapura and Tanglin Mall will start earlier this year, at 3pm rather than 6.30. There will be daily performances from bands, carol singers and roving cosplayers.

    Shaw says LED lights will enhance the installations even in the afternoon. Each of the 1200 hanging globes to be strung on trees comprise coloured fabric intertwined with LED fairy lights.

    Other attractions include the Walk of Wonder, a 12m-high 20m tunnel outside Forum the Shopping Mall made from reflective fabric and fairy lights.

    A 4.5m Tree of Time in front of Ngee Ann City will be topped with a countdown-to-Christmas Day clock, and will be the backdrop to a Christmas Eve concert featuring bands and a midnight pyrotechnics show.

    Orba expects the event to draw 3.6 million visitors this year. While this appears to be a sharp drop from the 6 million visitors counted last year, the association says it is introducing a new calculation method. In previous years, anyone who entered the event area would be counted as a visitor, but from this year visitors will be asked if they are there specifically for the event.

  • Orchard Road to gain design incubator

    Orchard Road to gain design incubator

    A “design incubator” to showcase home-grown brands and designers will open in the heart of Orchard Road by the end of next year.

    This was revealed by Trade and Industry Minister S Iswaran at the Singapore Retail Industry Conference on Friday.

    He said the design incubator, to be run by retailer Naiise, will house a retail showcase and incubation space under one roof. It is expected to feature more than 60 local brands covering fashion, lifestyle products and souvenirs, and is being supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, Spring Singapore and JTC. Helping local brands go global is one of the key strategies of the Retail Industry Transformation Map launched last year.

    Local brands and designers may soon also be able to use department stores as a launchpad to showcase their products, boost their profile and expand market access. Iswaran said Spring is working with department stores to explore the incubation of local and regional designers.

    Also, the Singapore Retail Association (SRA) is embarking on a project under Spring’s Local Enterprise and Association Development Plus (Lead+) program to transform and upgrade its capabilities, the minister said. It will undertake specific initiatives to drive the adoption of retail and backend technologies among retailers, including the use of the “endless aisle” which enables retailers to showcase all their products without having to stock them in their physical stores.

    SRA will develop a website mobile portal and enhance its GoSpree shopping app launched in June.

    Government agencies are also looking at ways to enliven Orchard Road as a shopping and lifestyle destination, said Iswaran. He said a steering committee overseeing this has been set up, co-chaired by three government ministers.
    Other initiatives on the table include enhanced programming along the pedestrian malls, pop-up and permanent activations at available spaces, and making the shopping belt more pedestrian friendly.

    Iswaran said the retail industry is an important part of the republic’s economy. The sector comprises 23,000 retail establishments that chalk up about S$35 billion (US$26 billion) in annual receipts and contributed 1.4 per cent to Singapore’s GDP last year.

    As another resource for retailers, the Retail Centre of Excellence will be launched at the Singapore Management University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business next month. It will partner retailers in addressing the gaps and challenges of the fast-changing retail landscape, Iswaran said.