COMMUTERS will get more than connectivity when the train pulls in at the Esplanade MRT station.
Scheduled to open next year as part of the Circle Line Stage 1, the station will boast a shopping area called Esplanade Xchange.
There are similar shopping areas at Raffles Place and Dhoby Ghaut stations, with the most recent opened at Choa Chu Kang in January last year.
The Esplanade station will house about 40 shops spread across 2,000 sq m – or slightly less than half a football field – of retail space.
SMRT said it aims to have a good mix of retail and food and beverage shops.
The station, with a floor area of 19,000 sq m, is the largest of all the Circle Line stations.
It will have four entrances: at Suntec City; One Raffles Link; the War Memorial Park; and the former Singapore Armed Forces Non-Commissioned Officers Club.
There will also be three underpasses, linking commuters to Raffles City, Marina Square and One Raffles Link.
SMRT is marketing the retail space and will call for tenders later this year.
But Singapore Polytechnic retail management lecturer Sarah Lim said retailers will find it ‘quite challenging’ to draw the crowds unless they can ‘provide something completely different’ like unique food or retail offerings.
They may also need to position themselves as a niche shopping area like the Heeren, which caters to younger shoppers
‘Their main competition will be the Orchard Road area where the buzz is very strong with new mall offerings and a number of buildings being upgraded,’ she added.
While noting that there will be constant human traffic in the area, she pointed out that Raffles City and Suntec City are already established malls.
Without proper ‘positioning and branding’, the Esplanade Xchange could just become a thoroughfare for people heading to shops in these other malls.
SMRT said there are plans for 700 sq m of shops at some of the 10 other Circle Line stations opening next year, including the Bras Basah, Promenade, Nicoll Highway, Stadium and Paya Lebar stations.
Since Ms Saw Phaik Hwa became SMRT’s chief executive in 2002, she has pushed hard to make good use of its space in stations for retail purposes.
For its first quarter ended June 30, SMRT’s operating profit for retail space grew by 12.9 per cent to $12.5 million.
Source : Straits Times – 1 Oct 2009
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