Tag Archives: Singapore Retail

313@somerset draws more people than expected

Posted on 4 Mar 2010 | Comments Off on 313@somerset draws more people than expected

ORCHARD Road newcomer 313@somerset has received a higher than expected nine million visitors since it opened three months ago, the mall’s owner, Lend Lease Group, said yesterday.

Dandy, just dandy: The new Orchard Road mall gets about 100,000 visitors a day, up from a forecast of 60,000-70,000

‘When we first did the research three years ago, we were expecting something like 60,000-70,000 (visitors) a day. But now, the average is about 100,000 a day,’ said Ooi Eng Peng, executive officer for retail and investment management in Asia for Australia-based Lend Lease.

The 301,000 square foot mall is fully leased at ‘market rents’. Lend Lease won the retail site above Somerset MRT station in a government tender in 2006 with its top bid of $617.2 million. The mall had its official opening yesterday and now Lend Lease is on the lookout for more sites.

‘We are very committed to Singapore and we hope we can get more land to build retail malls here,’ said Mr Ooi. ‘But the market landscape is quite competitive, everybody is trying (to get more land).’

Lend Lease, in particular, hopes to grow its presence in the suburban retail space, said Mr Ooi: ‘If you look at our model around the world, we are very much focused on suburban malls.’

In Singapore, Lend Lease also has Parkway Parade Shopping Mall in its retail portfolio. But the company is not placing all its bets on the retail scene here – it also has plans to grow into other regional markets.

‘For the next three years . . . we are very focused on three countries – China, Malaysia and Singapore,’ said Mr Ooi. ‘Singapore retail is very competitive because retail malls here are very tightly held. And China is a very big market for us. We are not rushing there but with our skills in retail, hopefully we can get some advantage in China.’

Lend Lease hopes to have a retail presence in China by the end of this year. And in Malaysia, Lend Lease has teamed up with property group SP Setia to build a RM750 million (S$311 million) retail mall in Setia City, in the Setia Alam township in Shah Alam.

Source : Business Times – 4 Mar 2010

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First Victoria’s Secret in Asia to open here

Posted on 17 Dec 2009 | Comments Off on First Victoria’s Secret in Asia to open here

Lingerie retailer will open at Resorts World Sentosa in Q1 next year

VICTORIA’S Secret is coming to town. And hopefully, so will some of the company’s models.

Ashvin Valiram, director of Malaysian-based retailer Valiram Group, says that this will be the first Victoria’s Secret store in Asia and it will open at Resorts World Sentosa – with Valiram’s other new-to-market brands Canali and Damiani – in the first quarter of next year.

Already, there are plans to fly in brand ambassadors such as Sharon Stone and Orlando Bloom to grace various events.

On whether the famous Victoria’s Secret fashion show could be included, Mr Valiram said: ‘Never say never.’

He revealed that he has had his eye on Victoria’s Secret for some time. ‘We have been talking to the company for the past five years.’

The clincher for the US-based lingerie and beauty products retailer was a spot at Resorts World Sentosa, which has a high international profile, according to Mr Valiram.

Valiram only secured the deal to be the sole operator of the 30,000 sq ft luxury retail segment in May. ‘A herculean task,’ he said.

It will spend $18 million to fit out the space that will include 24 stand-alone boutiques.

‘It’s a travel retail business that will focus on tourists and high rollers,’ he said.

The model for the space is similar that for duty-free shopping at airports – probably because Valiram first ventured into retail with duty-free shops at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 1997.

Today, the company also operates luxury fashion space at Changi Airport’s Terminals 2 and 3.

About 80 per cent of the brands for its Resorts World at Sentosa space have been confirmed, including Bally, Bvlgari, Chanel, Coach, Jimmy Choo, Tod’s, Vertu and Ralph Lauren.

But there are notable omissions, such as Louis Vuitton – a brand which has become synonymous with luxury retail.

Mr Valiram says that the company has had discussions with Louis Vuitton, which may consider an outlet at Sentosa later.

He concedes that 30,000 sq ft is not a large space, but says that he expects to ‘maximise space productivity’.

Valiram will also be looking to expand its business outside Sentosa.

It recently opened a flagship Coach store at Paragon shopping centre and is always on the lookout for the ‘right location’.

With retail rents likely to moderate, this should not be a problem.

Put off by the high retail rents in previous years, Valiram decided to stay out of the market.

But things are different now.

‘I get more excited in a crisis because we get to do more logical deals,’ Mr Valiram said.

Source : Business Times – 17 Dec 2009

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Posted in Office / Retail / Industrial, Sentosa Property

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