Jayden

SINGAPORE, Oct 27 - To go by the numbers, the big event in Singapore this year was not the International Monetary Fund meeting or the city-state's first big international art show, but the opening of its largest shopping mall.

Over 2 million people, equivalent to half the population, have trooped through VivoCity since it opened on Oct. 7 -- compared with about 20,000 delegates who attended the IMF-World Bank meetings last month and 400,000 visitors for Singapore's much-trumpeted first-ever art biennale.

"Singapore needs more shops, more choice, more places to go," said Kerry Chan at the S$417 million VivoCity, owned by state investment firm Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL].

Chan, 26, and her friend Peisi Tan were among 230,000 people to visit VivoCity last Saturday.

Even at 9:30 p.m., the mall was packed as hordes of people escaped from the tropical heat and air pollution into an over-airconditioned sanctuary. Many had the glazed expressions and slow, trance-like gait of the seriously overshopped.

Mall assistants helped direct shoppers who had lost their way in a space the size of 17 football pitches. Outside, workers put the finishing touches to the walkways and flowerbeds, while long queues of exhausted shoppers tried to flag down taxis.

Singaporeans, like many affluent Asians, count shopping as something of a national sport.

"Shopping is no trivial pursuit for me. I take it seriously, and am proud to be a mall rat, though there are malls and there are malls," wrote Sumiko Tan, a Straits Times columnist, on Sunday, adding that she visits her favourite shopping mall at least twice a week.

"You know you've hit the jackpot when you walk into one and you feel your heart quickening and your head going dizzy at the thought of the experience ahead. It's a bit like falling in love, and I got that delicious feeling when I walked into VivoCity."

"SOMETHING TO DO"

Some 84 percent of people in Asia-Pacific go shopping once a month or more for "something to do" or for entertainment, even if they don't need to buy anything, according to an AC Nielsen survey, compared with a global average of 74 percent.

The survey found that 7 percent of Singaporeans go shopping twice a week or more just for something to do, ranking third after Hong Kongers (17 percent) and Thais (9 percent).

Economists say that generous government cash hand-outs a few days before the May 6 general election and a strong jobs market have helped boost spending at malls such as VivoCity, which will ultimately house more than 300 shops.

The VivoCity mall rat "is a close cousin of the lemming" and "known for its herd mentality" wrote columnist Jaime Ee in the Singapore Business Times on Friday.

Unlike lemmings, though, the VivoCity mall rat looks set to thrive rather than suffer a major population crash. "A lot of these shopping malls have become entertainment centres in themselves with movies, skating rinks, and all kinds of shops and restaurants," said Khiem Do, head of Baring Asset Management's Asian multi-asset group in Hong Kong, whose investments include malls and real-estate investment trusts.

"Asian cities are getting more crowded, people lack space at home. These malls have space where people can walk around, they are air-conditioned. It's become an enduring theme in Asia."

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HUIXIAN

oooooooooOoo.
haven been to vivo eh =)

.phoenixity.

yay mall rats! :rock:

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Woud you lie with me and just forget the world? ♥


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Jayden

haha how can they call us shoppers mall rats!! :disgust2:

you shld go bah.. nice place :rock:

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germaine

its veri big n spacious.. but got lots of ppl lorz..

Jayden

you might as well don't post lol... yes, it's very big and spacious and got lots of ppl lorz.. LOL

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MissRed

Exactly what is its attraction? The spaciousness? The 15 cinema halls with larger than life screens? Otherwise it's just like any 2 or 3 shopping malls rolled into one.

Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.:rock:

.phoenixity.

LOL. because we explore the mall like rats mah.

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Woud you lie with me and just forget the world? ♥


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Do support the SGC Charity!
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violette

rats arR?? i feel like i am an ant.. lol

Pls check ur taobao orders here => (
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Dear all,
Pls contact me at
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with regards to spree matters as I will be seldom online in SGC. Thanks.

5 ongoing sprees & counting...

[China] -
[Hong Kong] -
[Taiwan] -
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Vogue Shop
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[USA]
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Urban Outfitters l Charlotte Russe l ELF l Victoria's Secret
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fuyumi

Why they use the word rats? So...

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Jayden

ya precisely... SO..........:speechless:

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fuyumi

I think the media really need to brush up on their use of words.

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ic3st0rmer

it's gigantic huge!! i only went there once, and got lost... heh!! but many shops haven opened that time.. but now i think got more, much more shops...

When you know how to die, you know how to live.

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