Retail's Saving Grace: Singapore Malls Embrace Activity-Based Tenants

Gyms, health centers, and virtual reality arcades are estimated to occupy 50% of the island’s retail mix.

- Sandra B. Sendingan

With e-commerce sales in Singapore expected to hit $10b by 2020, embattled mall operators are fighting back by increasingly making room for service and lifestyle tenants whose shopping experiences cannot be simply replicated from within a screen. In recent years, malls across the island have witnessed a rapid proliferation of activity-based tenants including health and fitness hubs, culinary centers, crafts workshops and virtual reality arcades with Savills Singapore estimating that activity-based tenants could easily occupy around 50% of a mall’s floor area with less than 300,000 sqftof net let table area.

Malls that have prominently adopted a list of activity-based tenants in their retail mix include Velocity@Novena Square whose big time sports tenants include Adidas and Asics as well as OUE Downtown with tenants on the block including Absolute Cycle, Boulder Movement, Haus Athletics, Still Boxing, and Sweat box Yoga, according to Ong Choon Fah, CEO and head of research and consulting of Edmund Tie & Company.

On the other hand, United Square Shopping Mall in 101 Thomson Road is positioning itself as a kid’s learning hub through its spacious nursing rooms, colour-themed levels and detailed play features, noted Alan Cheong, senior director, research consultancy at Savills Singapore.

The trend towards activity-based retail is perhaps more prominent in prime shopping belts such as when amusement center Fat Cat Arcade recently opened in Bedok Djitsun Mall whilst Korean carom billiards bar Thirsty4Balls opened at The Cathay along Orchard Road, according to an earlier report by Colliers International.

“Experience-based tenants are valuable for malls,” according to Simon Ogilvie, executive chairman of Tomorrow Entertainment who brought virtual reality social gaming space Zero Latency to Suntec Singapore last November.