Rejuvenate Orchard Road, but with new pickings

Efforts to rejuvenate Orchard Road are already visible in land sales to developers, a boom in street stalls on the pavements, late night shopping and more alfresco dining options. But this is only the beginning of the transformation of Orchard Road, and the travel trade wants more.

A S$1.6 billion rejuvenation plan announced in March 2005 was put in place by the Singapore Tourism Board, working alongside the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Land Transport Authority (LTA).

The grand vision then was to turn Orchard Road into ‘one of the world’s greatest shopping streets’ and a ‘dynamic, vibrant and vital urban centre for overseas visitors and locals, and a stage for exciting events where the best of city life can be found amidst tropical gardens’.

Singapore’s travel trade welcomed the initiative. They felt – and still feel – Orchard Road is in danger of losing out to growing competition elsewhere in Singapore and the region.

Ms Judy Lum, Group Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Tour East Singapore said while Orchard Road was still a must-visit attraction among her company’s clients, it was losing its appeal.

‘The most common comment is that there seems to be so much to see and shop for when in Orchard Road, but once you get down to serious shopping, the visitor gets frustrated seeing the same shops from one mall to another and after a few hours gets bored.

‘For the tourists, I honestly do not think the rejuvenation would be of great importance to the tourism experience of a visitor.’

Some, like Ms Lum, feel Orchard Road is already of world-class standard – with its shaded pedestrian walkways, alfresco cafes, numerous shopping complexes, restaurants and evening entertainment – and that a different tack needs to be tried.

The grand vision needs to envision wider interests
The Somerset Central site above the Somerset MRT Station, the last major site on Orchard Road available for a retail project, has been snapped up by Australian property giant Lend Lease in an intense bidding war.

Two other sites - Orchard Turn and Orchard Central - will be redeveloped into commercial developments with underground shopping malls.

'They represent the first new supply of prime retail sites on Orchard Road in more than a decade. These hotly contested sites are the result of latent demand and when completed would represent significant retail inventory clustered around two key MRT stations along Orchard Road,' said Association of Shopping Centres President Anthony Yip.

But, Ms Lum suggested more needs to be taken into consideration in a tender process. She suggested weight also be given to how bidders intend to rent out the shop space, in addition to considering how high their bid is. 

High rentals can mean shop owners hold recovering their investment as being the most important consideration. However, in order to keep visitors coming, and in turn spending, Ms Lum said thought also needs to go into improving the experiential element of the visitor.

Make the shopping malls specialised
Ms Lum hopes the rejuvenation plan will take into consideration the overall visitor experience. She commented that to attract overseas visitors Orchard Road needs to offer a varied and specialised shopping experience.

‘We should have a mall for accessories, shoes, bags; another for high fashion clothes; another for ethnic clothes from Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia; malls for departmental stores; malls for houseware and decorative items.

‘We should also have malls selling off-season branded and designer goods, as with warehouse sales – this is a big thing in Australia and the United States. You should see the number of foreigners at the Factory Outlet stores in Malaysia.’
 
Rejuvenate more than the shopping malls
For others in the travel trade, Orchard Road is more than just shops in shopping malls.

'It is the atmosphere, the sights and sounds, and the people,' said Mr Robert Khoo, President of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS).

He hopes the rejuvenation will extend to other features that make Orchard Road attractive to people, besides shops in malls.

‘There must be something for everyone. Alfresco dinning is beginning to happen, but we need more of it. We need more street performances, street bazaars on weekends and flea markets where Singaporeans can sell interesting things,’ he suggested.

Evidence of growth in these areas is appearing. There is more outdoor activity with stalls selling anything from souvenirs to food. More restaurants are spilling out onto the sidewalks, offering visitors a chance to sit out and people-watch – a popular pastime in urban capitals around the world.
 
Ms Lum too believes the death knell would be to boast of the largest shopping mall: ‘It’s so passé and cliché and it does not put us on the map as the greatest shopping street because every other month, an Asian country boasts of having the largest shopping mall.'

Other stories about Orchard Road in this issue

Lend Lease entry a breath of fresh air