Retired regional human resources director Helen Kuan typically spends this time of year picking up Christmas presents from her usual department store haunts around
Singapore. But her options are becoming more limited as more of these one-stop stores have been shuttering in recent years.
On Monday, shopping centre NEX, located in the northeast of Singapore, announced that Japanese brand Isetan would close in April next year, a month after the chain shut its Tampines outlet. With these closures, Isetan’s Scotts Road store and its leased-out space at Wisma Atria are what the department store has left in the city state, where it once had six outlets.
Retail experts told This Week in Asia that department stores worldwide are under threat from changing consumer patterns and e-commerce. For Kuan, 63, the main reason to keep returning to the stores is the shopping experience.
“Maybe as part of the older generation, I like the social interaction. I like to see and touch, and get the salesperson to tell me about the products and walk out with what I want straight away, while knowing exactly what I’m going to get. [Shopping] online feels colder, and I’ve been scammed by lousy products,” Kuan told This Week in Asia.
A spokesman for Isetan, which first set up shop in Singapore in the 1970s, said in response to media queries that it was closing because of the “expiry of its lease agreement and as part of a strategic review of business operations”. The brand was looking to realign resources and strengthen its focus on its flagship Isetan Scotts store in Orchard.
“Isetan Scotts continues to be our core retail focus in Singapore, and we have invested in upgrades, refreshed concepts and new tenants to strengthen the overall shopping experience,” the spokesman said.