PEOPLE typically remove their shoes or slippers when they enter a home or a place of worship.



But removing your footwear before entering a shop in the HDB heartland?

That's unheard of.

But that's the sight that greets customers who go to an optical shop located at The Woodgrove shopping centre on Woodlands Ave 1.

Slippers, sandals, sports shoes and high-heeled shoes are left outside the shop before customers step in.

The staff go about their business barefoot or in socks and though there are no 'No footwear' signs, most customers readily remove their footwear.

HYGIENE REASONS

Asked about this unusual practice, 30-year-old Jacky Cheong - an optician working at the shop - said: 'We do not ask customers to remove their footwear unless it is raining.

'Customers simply follow what the staff do.'

He added that they have been adopting this shoeless policy in the shop for hygiene reasons.

'Our shop is facing the main road, so it is rather dusty,' he said, and claimed that they would mop the floor each time people leave the shop, so that new arrivals can enjoy a squeaky-clean floor under their feet.

Mr Cheong said the shop even has three pairs of bedroom slippers for those who may be uncomfortable stepping on the cold, hard floor.

While many people The New Paper on Sunday spoke to have never heard of such a practice, Ms Yvonne Wong, 20, thought that it provided 'a different experience' for customers.

'I would not be surprised if they do this in a massage parlour, but this is an optical shop,' the final-year Singapore Polytechnic student said.

Some owners in the vicinity think it's a good idea to make customers 'feel at home'.

But Ms Yap Min Hui, 23, who works at August Florist & Garden a few shops away, is not about to do the same for her shop.

'For us, thorns from the flowers do drop onto the floor, so it's not safe for people to be barefoot in our shop,' she said.