Singapore Expats

Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?

BV is cheaper, but the stores there open at around 3-4pm. What does that tell you? There are crowds of students, who have little buying power, and who are more focused on trinkets rather than clothes. Stuff over $15 is hard to sell there, and with 600+ outlets, what makes you stand out from the competition? Unlike what Oriental said in the other post, hiring Haute Couture models to promote low-priced clothing isn't going to work in Singapore. Small businesses are small because they don't have the startup costs. Even with a rental of under $2000, you still need to have a turnover of at least $6000 to make your own salary and cover the cost of the goods, including freight and travel. That's over $200 in sales a day, which translates to 10 pieces of merchandise. It doesn't sound very much. But wait till you sit there all day, have to travel and buy food, not make a single sale. Then you realize how bad the economy is. Don't compare it to success stories like 77th street. Their boss already survived the hard times and made a name for her brand. Over 10 years ago. It's the worst possible time to get into the market now for an apparel business. If you're aiming for highend, Bugis Village is not the place to be. Store owners from BV are relocating to FEP. What does that tell you again?

FEP - just closed shop there. Rents are even more forbidding. For e.g., the new nameless street on the 3rd floor which noone knows about, that costs anywhere from $30-40 psf. The stores are really small, but the rentals are already around 2K+. Which is a ripoff because there is NO traffic there. They're making less than $100 in sales each single day. But the rents are the most expensive in the entire building. Do your math. For that kind of rent, I'd be expecting a turnover of more than 10K a month in the non-peak season. And yet the turnover has been dipping ever since it opened in July. Many more stores are out for lease because the store owners can no longer make ends meet. They might as well put their money in the bank with the non-existent interest rates have better security. At least you can see it and aren't feeding it to the landlord. Rents are only going to go up. The bubble will burst. The worst has yet to come. Tip of the iceberg.

Yes, you can be very confident of your business idea. But if you haven't done it before, go work retail in one of the stores in the area where you want to open shop. Seriously. Then you know what I'm talking about. Idealism from a faraway European country isn't real.

Thanks Guest2046 for good information !!!

My close friend rented a shop in the Bugis Village. If you want more info on rental issues, u can PM me.. I try to ask her.

Cheers,
Take care

kk_lass wrote:My close friend rented a shop in the Bugis Village. If you want more info on rental issues, u can PM me.. I try to ask her.

Cheers,
Take care

Hi KKLass...
what is your friend selling there?
is she doing well there?

cheeers..^^

Cheeben wrote:Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?

Hi, b4 u jump into holding a shop there, why don't u try out the mkt by taking the pushcarts. In that case, even if really cannot make it, u won't lose too much.

cherryblue wrote: Hi KKLass...
what is your friend selling there?
is she doing well there?
cheeers..^^

Hi Cherryblue,
she started with tourism CDs.. Her company create this tourism CDs.. planning to capture the tourism market. However unable to penetrate to Bugis Village market, so they happen to have the opp to open a shop there. So they started taking consignments of hippy stuffs .. from bags, to earings, to displays.. etc weekends (Fri - Sun) are considered not bad..

I will say personally it is difficult to run.. rental is not considered cheap! And the amt of hrs u have to be there to mend the shop.. TIME = $$
Got open also doesn't meant lots of $$ .. But no open, no $$ ..
And plus u r binded .. u wait for customers to come and patron ur shop.. Nowadays, things are delievered to the customers..
And stiff competition.. whatever u can provide, others can provide at a better quality, cheaper cost ...etc

memorieschc wrote:

Cheeben wrote:Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?

Hi, b4 u jump into holding a shop there, why don't u try out the mkt by taking the pushcarts. In that case, even if really cannot make it, u won't lose too much.

Hi!
This is a good way to start off. : )
True enough. But how to go about?? Pushcarts rental ?

somethingaboutyou wrote:

memorieschc wrote:

Cheeben wrote:Plan to jump into apparel business and need an advice wheather to rent shop at Bugis Village or Far East Plaza ? or no where ?

Hi, b4 u jump into holding a shop there, why don't u try out the mkt by taking the pushcarts. In that case, even if really cannot make it, u won't lose too much.

Hi!
This is a good way to start off. : )
True enough. But how to go about?? Pushcarts rental ?

To book, just approach the management. For some contacts and details of some pushcarts, u may wish to visit www.memories-sg.com/forums under General Discussions, Flea Market.

Jus went to BV this evening.

What i can say is that there are many many shops. notice that a number of them sellin almost the same thing.
= high competition.

If i am in this line then I will only rent there if my product is very different which are able to capture the crowd.

CSP wrote:Jus went to BV this evening.

What i can say is that there are many many shops. notice that a number of them sellin almost the same thing.
= high competition.

If i am in this line then I will only rent there if my product is very different which are able to capture the crowd.

Agree. Unique product is important..
Otherwise people will be going for cost and convenience..

kk_lass wrote:

CSP wrote:Jus went to BV this evening.

What i can say is that there are many many shops. notice that a number of them sellin almost the same thing.
= high competition.

If i am in this line then I will only rent there if my product is very different which are able to capture the crowd.

Agree. Unique product is important..
Otherwise people will be going for cost and convenience..

Hi, u haven tell me how unique is your product leh