SINGAPORE EXPATS FORUM
Singapore Expat Forum and Message Board for Expats in Singapore & Expatriates Relocating to Singapore
Advice for renting shop in Bugis Village or Far East
Advice for renting shop in Bugis Village or Far East
Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?
Read my above post "Not advised"
BV is cheaper, but the stores there open at around 3-4pm. What does that tell you? There are crowds of students, who have little buying power, and who are more focused on trinkets rather than clothes. Stuff over $15 is hard to sell there, and with 600+ outlets, what makes you stand out from the competition? Unlike what Oriental said in the other post, hiring Haute Couture models to promote low-priced clothing isn't going to work in Singapore. Small businesses are small because they don't have the startup costs. Even with a rental of under $2000, you still need to have a turnover of at least $6000 to make your own salary and cover the cost of the goods, including freight and travel. That's over $200 in sales a day, which translates to 10 pieces of merchandise. It doesn't sound very much. But wait till you sit there all day, have to travel and buy food, not make a single sale. Then you realize how bad the economy is. Don't compare it to success stories like 77th street. Their boss already survived the hard times and made a name for her brand. Over 10 years ago. It's the worst possible time to get into the market now for an apparel business. If you're aiming for highend, Bugis Village is not the place to be. Store owners from BV are relocating to FEP. What does that tell you again?
FEP - just closed shop there. Rents are even more forbidding. For e.g., the new nameless street on the 3rd floor which noone knows about, that costs anywhere from $30-40 psf. The stores are really small, but the rentals are already around 2K+. Which is a ripoff because there is NO traffic there. They're making less than $100 in sales each single day. But the rents are the most expensive in the entire building. Do your math. For that kind of rent, I'd be expecting a turnover of more than 10K a month in the non-peak season. And yet the turnover has been dipping ever since it opened in July. Many more stores are out for lease because the store owners can no longer make ends meet. They might as well put their money in the bank with the non-existent interest rates have better security. At least you can see it and aren't feeding it to the landlord. Rents are only going to go up. The bubble will burst. The worst has yet to come. Tip of the iceberg.
Yes, you can be very confident of your business idea. But if you haven't done it before, go work retail in one of the stores in the area where you want to open shop. Seriously. Then you know what I'm talking about. Idealism from a faraway European country isn't real.
FEP - just closed shop there. Rents are even more forbidding. For e.g., the new nameless street on the 3rd floor which noone knows about, that costs anywhere from $30-40 psf. The stores are really small, but the rentals are already around 2K+. Which is a ripoff because there is NO traffic there. They're making less than $100 in sales each single day. But the rents are the most expensive in the entire building. Do your math. For that kind of rent, I'd be expecting a turnover of more than 10K a month in the non-peak season. And yet the turnover has been dipping ever since it opened in July. Many more stores are out for lease because the store owners can no longer make ends meet. They might as well put their money in the bank with the non-existent interest rates have better security. At least you can see it and aren't feeding it to the landlord. Rents are only going to go up. The bubble will burst. The worst has yet to come. Tip of the iceberg.
Yes, you can be very confident of your business idea. But if you haven't done it before, go work retail in one of the stores in the area where you want to open shop. Seriously. Then you know what I'm talking about. Idealism from a faraway European country isn't real.
- cherryblue
- Chatter
- Posts: 277
- Joined: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:16 am
- Contact:
-
- Member
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 7:16 pm
- Contact:
Re: Advice for renting shop in Bugis Village or Far East
Hi, b4 u jump into holding a shop there, why don't u try out the mkt by taking the pushcarts. In that case, even if really cannot make it, u won't lose too much.Cheeben wrote:Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?
Last edited by memorieschc on Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Cherryblue,cherryblue wrote: Hi KKLass...
what is your friend selling there?
is she doing well there?
cheeers..^^
she started with tourism CDs.. Her company create this tourism CDs.. planning to capture the tourism market. However unable to penetrate to Bugis Village market, so they happen to have the opp to open a shop there. So they started taking consignments of hippy stuffs .. from bags, to earings, to displays.. etc weekends (Fri - Sun) are considered not bad..
I will say personally it is difficult to run.. rental is not considered cheap! And the amt of hrs u have to be there to mend the shop.. TIME = $$
Got open also doesn't meant lots of $$ .. But no open, no $$ ..
And plus u r binded .. u wait for customers to come and patron ur shop.. Nowadays, things are delievered to the customers..
And stiff competition.. whatever u can provide, others can provide at a better quality, cheaper cost ...etc

LEVERAGE ~ The ability to do MORE and MORE with less and less
-
- Newbie
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 3:31 am
Re: Advice for renting shop in Bugis Village or Far East
Hi!memorieschc wrote:Hi, b4 u jump into holding a shop there, why don't u try out the mkt by taking the pushcarts. In that case, even if really cannot make it, u won't lose too much.Cheeben wrote:Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?
This is a good way to start off. : )
True enough. But how to go about?? Pushcarts rental ?
-
- Member
- Posts: 45
- Joined: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 7:16 pm
- Contact:
Re: Advice for renting shop in Bugis Village or Far East
To book, just approach the management. For some contacts and details of some pushcarts, u may wish to visit www.memories-sg.com/forums under General Discussions, Flea Market.somethingaboutyou wrote:Hi!memorieschc wrote:Hi, b4 u jump into holding a shop there, why don't u try out the mkt by taking the pushcarts. In that case, even if really cannot make it, u won't lose too much.Cheeben wrote:Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?
This is a good way to start off. : )
True enough. But how to go about?? Pushcarts rental ?
Agree. Unique product is important..CSP wrote:Jus went to BV this evening.
What i can say is that there are many many shops. notice that a number of them sellin almost the same thing.
= high competition.
If i am in this line then I will only rent there if my product is very different which are able to capture the crowd.
Otherwise people will be going for cost and convenience..
LEVERAGE ~ The ability to do MORE and MORE with less and less
Hi, u haven tell me how unique is your product lehkk_lass wrote:Agree. Unique product is important..CSP wrote:Jus went to BV this evening.
What i can say is that there are many many shops. notice that a number of them sellin almost the same thing.
= high competition.
If i am in this line then I will only rent there if my product is very different which are able to capture the crowd.
Otherwise people will be going for cost and convenience..
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
-
The Scotts Tower 38 Scott’s Road - DO NOT RENT FROM FAR EAST DEV!!!!
by tomgamby » Sat, 01 Sep 2018 2:52 pm » in Property Talk, Housing & Rental - 0 Replies
- 2061 Views
-
Last post by tomgamby
Sat, 01 Sep 2018 2:52 pm
-
-
- 0 Replies
- 1128 Views
-
Last post by abbby
Mon, 07 Oct 2019 2:57 pm
-
-
Is Value dollar shop, a good place to shop ?
by mohamed66 » Wed, 29 May 2019 1:20 pm » in Staying, Living in Singapore - 50 Replies
- 21845 Views
-
Last post by Lisafuller
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 10:46 pm
-
-
-
Holland village restaurant closed
by abbby » Sun, 21 Jun 2020 10:45 pm » in Entertainment, Leisure & Sports - 11 Replies
- 5321 Views
-
Last post by Lisafuller
Tue, 09 Mar 2021 2:01 pm
-
-
-
Friday night drink Holland Village
by fab » Sat, 03 Apr 2021 4:25 pm » in FNDC - Friday Night Drinking Club - 1 Replies
- 4030 Views
-
Last post by irishinsg
Mon, 05 Apr 2021 2:24 pm
-
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests