Katong
Shopping Centre
METHODOLOGY & FINDINGS
Why Katong Shopping Centre?
The mall full of rich history
Newspaper articles showed that the mall was one of the most visited in its prime, when it first opened in 1973. Being such a highly-raved mall back then, we began to wonder what led to its drastic decline in popularity.
The mall's drastic change
The mall used to be the “Orchard Road” of Singapore and was a well-known spot for textile, clothing and shoes. Now, majority of the shops are maid agencies and printing shops.
The mall's intriguing future
Perhaps it was the drastic change in product offerings, or the introduction of new competitor malls.
Katong Shopping Centre's rapid and surprising decline intrigued us to dig deeper to find out the cause, and its potential for the future.
Theme
Past ● Present ● Future
Being one of Singapore's oldest malls, Katong Shopping Centre has experienced many changes throughout the years. The mall had a colourful and rich history in the past. However, the mall of today is vastly different. The risk of being left unsold looms over the mall's future.
Thus, we chose to depict Katong Shopping Centre's journey in the form of a Timeline.
Past
What was Katong Shopping Centre like in the past? We explore the major historical events that involved the mall.
The past is a pivotal part of the mall's timeline, as it was at its peak popularity. The area was and up and coming multi-faceted shopping district, with cinemas and big name department stores nearby.
Present
What has the mall become today? We explore why the mall shifted to niche services such as maid agencies, tailoring shops and fengshui shops.
Our team's own insights during the site visits, as well as the feedback gathered from shoppers, contribute to the public's perception of the mall today.
Future
What will happen to the mall in the future? We explore the uncertain fate of Katong Shopping Centre, and what its long-time tenants have to say about it.
As time passes and society modernises, should the mall stay as it is? Or is it time to make way for change?
Research Process
Primary Research
Observations
Interviews
Surveys
Observations
Visited Mall 4 times
1. Shop Categories
We noticed that the bulk of shops were maid agencies, tailoring services and fashion and beauty shops. On the second floor, there was an entire stretch of empty shops for rent.
2. Design of the mall
We noticed that design of the mall was quite old and the directories were not updated. It was quite difficult to locate the stores we wanted to find.
3. Mall layout mapping
The floor plans found online were very old and we redrew the floor plan ourselves, spending a day at the mall to mark out the categories of shops. We grouped the types of shops into 8 categories and found that the largest number belonged to maid agencies, tailoring services and beauty and wellness shops.
4. General observations
The entire mall seemed to be quite empty and lacked the usual bustle of a shopping mall. Besides looking inside the mall, we took a look at its surroundings. We found that there were mostly condominiums, landed property, cafes and shophouses.
Video Interviews with Shoppers & Tenants
1. Personal, Authentic Experiences
When conducting interviews, we focused on the memories each store owner had with the mall and what they would miss most if the mall were to be taken down or sold in future. We wanted to show what the mall was like in the past from the perspective of the people who have been there since the beginning. An example is the owner of Jamco Optical, who has been there since the first day Katong Shopping Centre opened.
2. Their opinions on the mall's Future
We asked for comparisons between the past and now and what they think is the cause of the mall’s decline in shoppers and popularity. We also asked about their hopes for the mall and what they felt about its en bloc status.
3. Differing views from Shoppers & Tenants
A shopper said that he hoped that the mall can be renovated to look more like the newer and trendier malls of today. Meanwhile, opinions were split among the store owners. While the tailor we interviewed did not want the mall to be sold due to its rich history and memories it holds, the optical shop owner agreed with the mall being sold, stating that she will develop and expand her business elsewhere.
Interviews
Behind the scenes of filming an interview with Jamco Optical shop owner Mdm Tan
Surveys
Conducted Surveys at the Site
We conducted random sampling and gathered a total of 33 survey responses from 25 patrons and 8 shop owners. We used the platform, surveymonkey, and loaded the questions on an iPad to conduct the survey.
Key Findings:
From Shoppers (25):
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60% visited the mall for food
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80% support the en-bloc sale
From Tenants (8):
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75% support the en-bloc sale
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Majority of shop owners (37.5%) are within the age range of 55 - 64 years old
Overall (33):
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94% think the mall is not doing well
Full Survey Results & Analysis
We surveyed respondents from varying age ranges and races.
We found that most of the patrons (60%) visit Katong Shopping Centre for the food. Some of their other reasons included visiting a friend or to “waste time”. These were common reasons among respondents of older age groups as they have grown used to visit Katong Shopping Centre.
Amongst the 25 patrons surveyed, 80% of them support the potential en-bloc sale. Their main reasons included “for economic growth” or that it is “better for the tenants”. Some of the reasons for not supporting en-bloc sale included “feelings” and potential lost of “old mall culture”.
Similarly, the majority of the shop owners surveyed support the potential en-bloc sale. Their main reasons were “to recoup losses”, “not enough customers” and to “refurbish shop image” with the money gained from the sale. A significant number of shop owners stated that they do not believe that the en-bloc will happen as it has previously failed several times.
Out of the 8 shop owners that we have surveyed, the majority of them belong to the age group of 55 - 64 years old. Most of them have been mall tenants for “over 10 years”.
Secondary Research
Blog Posts
Newspaper Archives
Online News Articles
Blog Posts
Gathering Information with a Personal Touch
We kickstarted our research process with blog posts about Katong Shopping Centre. By looking at blog posts first rather than news articles, we wanted to get a more personal touch as to what Katong Shopping Centre is and was like for other Singaporeans. We managed to get a wide range views and perspectives from various Singaporeans. While many of the blog posts discussed the past of the mall and how it has now become a place filled with maid agencies, a large amount of blog posts discussed how Katong Shopping Centre could become a potential gold mine for developers.
This led us to research more into why this is so, and we found that the mall is actually located near a foodie stretch and is surrounded by many condominiums and landed properties. Many residents still frequent Katong Shopping Centre for services they cannot find at the more retail-oriented Parkway Parade, the mall’s main competitor. With that said, we also wanted to find out why there has been a decline in patrons at the mall despite the mall’s location.
Going Back to 1973
We found newspaper archives dating all the way back to before Katong Shopping Centre was opened in 1973.
One news article reported on the mall before its opening, stating that the “$20 million centre will be the most up-to-date and largest in the eastern sector of the republic”, with the top floor of the building offering a “panoramic view of the seafront and surrounding areas”. It also stated that “The entire building is fully air-conditioned” and “bookings have exceeded projections in both sales and rental”.
We could see that the mall was truly one of its kind at that point of time, attracting crowds from all over Singapore. Hence, we used the newspaper archives as an integral part of our website timeline, charting the mall’s changes through the years using these newspaper articles as a guideline.
From the newspaper archives, we found information on the changes the mall underwent, from the introduction of competitor mall Parkway Parade in 1984 to the $200,000 facelift Katong Shopping Centre underwent in the same year, in the face of competition from new malls. The Archives also mentioned the land reclamation project in the 1960s to increase the land area for housing estates - which caused Katong Shopping Centre to lose its unique ocean view.
Newspaper Archives
Online News Articles
Utilising Online Resources
We searched for the newest information on Katong Shopping Centre through more recent news articles. Many news articles reported on the en bloc status of Katong Shopping Centre, and we found that there have been four unsuccessful attempts at the en bloc sale for the mall. We wanted to use the recent online news articles as a contrast against the older newspaper archives, where the mall was still popular and booming with business - as compared to more recent news which mostly covers the en bloc status of the mall.
