SINGAPORE: From East to West, the malls in both suburban and central districts of Singapore seem like they came from a template. There are similar supermarket chains, major clothing retailers and chain pharmacies.
Throw in quick hair cut booths and several floors of food offerings (and there must be a toast and coffee outlet) and you’ve got the classic cookie-cutter Singapore mall.
There’s a commercial reason why the tenant mix is often similar, said Adjunct Associate Professor Lynda Wee from the Nanyang Business School, a guest on the latest episode of the Heart of the Matter podcast.
“One of the changes you see right now is that malls are actually REIT instruments. And so you have the financial guy looking at it and needing to turn in that investment. What do you go for when you look at tenants? You look at those retail brands that work. So after a while you see the same players,” said Dr Wee.