Some shops face sluggish sales, others unaffected by slower footfall

People familiar with area miss aspects of town but say upgrades are necessary

- Esther Loi

Having worked as a barber in Tanglin Halt more than half his life, Mr Abdullah Latip, 75, now mainly serves regular customers, some of whom have moved out of the housing estate and return specially for his haircuts.

"All my old customers have had their hair cut by me their whole lives, from when they were in kindergarten up till when they got married. Now, some of them even bring their children along for haircuts," said the cheerful owner of Salon De Benzimen at 48 Tanglin Halt Road.

Lamenting that business has been down by around two-thirds since residents started moving out in 2021 to make way for the redevelopment of the estate in Queenstown, Mr Abdullah has stayed behind to serve the 10 customers he receives daily - a drop from 30 customers a day in 2019.

He will, however, call it quits in 2027 when he must return his shop unit in one of Singapore's oldest estates to the Housing Board.

It will be "time to retire" then, Mr Abdullah said.

Mr Abdullah's barbershop is among the stores at blocks 47, 48 and 49 Tanglin Halt Road that will be cleared for the estate's redevelopment. As at November, HDB said 23 out of 28 shops at these blocks are still operating.

The public housing authority said it had told tenants in March that their tenancies could be renewed for three years till March 2027, after it concluded that these blocks needed to be cleared only after that time. They were originally meant to return their units by March 2024.

The Tanglin Halt estate was identified for the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) in 2014.

Under this programme, Commonwealth Drive Food Centre and Tanglin Halt Market, as well as shops and eating houses at blocks 46-1, 46-2 and 46-3 Commonwealth Drive, and blocks 39 and 47 to 49 Tanglin Halt Road, are slated for renewal. Thirty-one housing blocks will also be torn down.