SINGAPORE: About one quarter of the retail space at the new Funan mall has been taken up, with homegrown theatre company W!ld Rice and a string of familiar names among the retailers unveiled as tenants on Thursday (Apr 27).
Funan DigitaLife Mall, best known as a hub for electronic products, was shuttered last June to be redeveloped into an “experiential creative hub”. Its owner, CapitaLand, has estimated the redevelopment to cost around S$560 million.
W!ld Rice will build an 18,000 sq ft, 380-seat theatre – the first facility of its kind designed and manged by a local theatre group to be located within a commercial complex.
Meanwhile, local jewellery designer Carolyn Kan will be setting up shop on the second level, with the flagship store featuring her label Carrie K and a collective space for local designers called Keepers. More local brands are due to join Ms Kan’s store on the same level, according to the vice president of Funan’s retail development Kevin Siew.
“After 30 years of being an IT mall, I think we have a lot going for us … Now we want to build a home for local designers and makers,” Mr Siew said.
While IT will no longer be the main focus of the mall, it will remain a key feature, with the entire level 3 set aside for the latest technological products. Former tenants Newstead Technologies, AddOn Systems and T K Foto will make a return to Funan, with “bigger and better offerings”, said Mr Siew.
For one, Newstead will have multiple concept stores spread across 15,000 sq ft, making it Funan’s largest anchor tenant. AddOn will operate Singapore’s Lenovo flagship and service centre, while T K Foto will have a dedicated test zone for drone videography and photography.
In addition, FairPrice Finest will launch a brand new supermarket with a “future concept”, in line with the mall’s digital focus.
Previously announced tenants included Golden Village, Climb Central and Kopitiam.
(Image: CapitaLand Limited)Smart security camera systems that can analyse details such as crowd size and demographics will also be installed at the mall, said Mr Siew.
CapitaLand Mall Trust Management CEO Wilson Tan said the commitment for about 25 per cent of Funan’s total leasing space of 324,000 square feet so far makes it one of CapitaLand’s most well-received developments to date.
“The early commitments of a strong slate of partners from diverse fields, many of whom CapitaLand is working with for the first time, marks a very encouraging start for Funan’s mandate to inspire retail innovation and create a unique lifestyle proposition that energises retail with a surprising mix of play, craft, technology and fitness,” he added.
FIRST EXPERIENCE OF THE NEW FUNAN
To allow shoppers to get a glimpse of the new Funan, which will only be opened in the fourth quarter of 2019, a two-storey experiential show suite has been constructed at the junction of High Street and Hill Street. It will be open to the public daily from 11am to 9pm from Apr 30.
Funan’s experiential show suite will be officially opened to the public on Apr 30. (Photo: Tang See Kit)Shoppers will be able to visit an immersive virtual reality simulation studio to “explore” the new Funan. Other displays include a Lego model of the redeveloped shopping mall built by local Lego artists Eugene Tan and Xylvie Wong.
The immersive virtual reality simulation studio in the experiential show suite. (Photo: Tang See Kit)
A lego model of the new Funan built by local lego artists. (Photo: Tang See Kit)Lifestyle programmes hosted by local creative talents will also be organised to reflect the events that will be made available in Funan’s design centrepiece “Tree of Life” – a wood-and-steel structure extending from basement 2 to level 4 that will be housing a variety of programmes such as pop-up stores and workshops.
Apart from a six-storey retail space, the new Funan will also have two six-storey office towers and a nine-storey tower of co-living apartment units. Mr Lim Ming Yan, president and Group CEO of CapitaLand, added that co-working spaces are also being explored as possible tenants in the new Funan.
“This is important, not just for us, but for the real estate industry … We are trying out new concepts from a piece of white paper on what a new shopping centre should look like,” Mr Lim said.
Analysts have long said that to ride out the sluggish retail scene, Singapore retailers will have to create new experiences to entice shoppers amid the boom in e-commerce.
“One of the things that have to change is that stores have to become more about experience, engagement,” said Martin Newman, executive chairman of Practicology, told Channel NewsAsia. “They have to be more immersive in bringing the whole proposition to life. How you sell products, how you leverage digital technology to take away friction from the customer when they’re in the store, and to provide a better shopping experience. These are just some of the ways that I think stores have to change and evolve in the next few years.”
(Additional reporting by Nicole Tan)
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