Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Singapore Shopping
In Singapore, shopping is a sport,
and fr om the practiced glide thr ough
haute coutur e boutiques to skillful back-
alley bargaining, it 's always ex citing, with
something to satiate ev ery pr o shopper 's
appetite.
The focal point of shopping in S inga-
pore is Orchard Road, a very long stretch
of glitzy shopping malls packed with
computer har dware and softwar e ar e a
steal. Although some good bargains can be
found if y ou hunt w ell, be car eful if the
offer sounds too good to be tr ue—it usu-
ally is. B y and large, prices her e are com-
parable to those of the West.
For shopping with an Asian flav or,
there are some ex citing shopping ar eas—
Little I ndia, Arab S treet, and China-
town —where shopping for unusual
Western clothing stor es, fr om designer
apparel to cheap chic, and many other
mostly imported finds. Singaporeans have
a lo ve-hate r elationship with O rchard
Road. As the shopping malls dev eloped,
they br ought hip styles into the r each of
everyday S ingaporeans, adding a cosmo-
politan sheen to S ingapore style. B ut
Orchard Road also usher ed in a ne w cul-
ture of obsessive consumerism.
Even to outsiders, O rchard R oad is a
drug; ho wever, most of the clothing and
accessories shops sell Western imports, and
the average visitor will find that the prices
of Western brand-name fashions ar e only
slightly less expensiv e than at home, if at
all.
handicrafts is as much a main attraction as
the sights. Anybody who 's been ar ound
Singapore long enough will tell y ou that
most of the r eally juicy bargains w ent the
way of the dodo when the huge shopping
malls came to to wn, but if y ou know the
value of certain items that you'd like, some
comparison shopping may save you a little
money. In this chapter, I'll give you some
tips on where to find the better mer chan-
dise, competitiv e prices, and memorable
shopping experiences.
Take note: I am an expert shopper and
have shopped just about ev erywhere in
Singapore. The shops that I hav e singled
out for this topic ar e the best of the best;
my family and I have purchased goods and
services from virtually every one of them.
Another myth about shopping in Asia is
that consumer electr onics, cameras, and
1 SINGAPORE SHOPPING:
THE GROUND RULES
HOURS Shopping malls are generally open from 10am to 9pm Monday through Sat-
urday, with some stores keeping shorter Sunday hours. The malls sometimes remain open
until 10pm on holidays. S maller shops ar e open fr om around 10am to 5pm M onday
through Saturday but are almost always closed on Sunday. Hours will vary from shop to
shop. Arab Street is closed on Sunday.
PRICES Almost all of the larger stores in shopping malls have fixed prices. Sometimes
these stores will have seasonal sales, especially from June into July, during the month-long
Great Singapore Sale, when prices are discounted 50% or 70%. In the smaller shops and
at street vendors, prices ar e sometimes not mar ked, and v endors will quote y ou higher
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search