Major changes are in store at Century Square

Major changes are in store at Century Square mall with old favourite Metro departing while Seiyu moves in - but under a new name and a new look.

Department store Metro will go when its lease expires in August, ending more than a decade-long stay at the Tampines mall.

Shoppers will only have to wait a few months before Seiyu, under its new brand name BHG, opens for business.

The revolving door changes point to a fast-shifting retail scene here with the old order facing a tougher playing field.

Metro’s move underlines the dwindling presence for what was once the dominant department store chain here.

Its first store opened in 1957 in High Street and at its height had 10 locations in town, including Lucky Plaza and Scotts Shopping Centre.

But there will soon be just three left - at Paragon, Causeway Point in Woodlands and Compass Point in Sengkang. The Metro store at Far East Plaza - one of the chain’s best-known branches - closed in mid-2002, after 19 years.

Metro has been an anchor tenant at Century Square since 1996 and occupies four floors with a sub-tenant, Best Denki, part of the mix.

A Metro Holdings spokesman told The Straits Times that it plans to move some staff to other stores and will try to minimise the disruption from the move.

‘We will continue to look for new locations,’ she said.

Mainboard-listed Metro Holdings has operations and investments overseas, including shopping malls in Shanghai and Beijing.

Its departure from Tampines will leave a gap of 82,000 sq ft but about 50,000 sq ft of that has been snapped up by the new anchor tenant - BHG or Seiyu to most people.

The name change stemmed from an ownership shuffle in late 2005. Parent firm Seiyu Japan sold Seiyu Singapore to CapitaLand, which in turn sold it to the Beijing Hualian Group (BHG) in China.

Seiyu Japan had at the time told The Straits Times that the Seiyu brand name would be retained in Singapore only for a certain period.

That name change is now official with the three existing Seiyu stores - in Bugis Junction, Junction 8 and Lot 1 - being rebranded as BHG at a ceremony tonight.

The new name - which reflects its marketing tagline Be Here For Good Things - has been accompanied by extensive revamps of some departments, including beauty halls and fashion quarters.

Said BHG Singapore’s managing director, Mr Katsuharu Inamoto: ‘We want the new store brand to be able to take us into the new retail era and adapt to the changing consumer profiles.

‘Our new investors are more forward-looking. As a result, we are not only opening a new store in Singapore but also looking at the feasibility of starting stores in neighbouring countries.’

Metro’s departure is also the signal for a mini revamp at the 210,000 sq ft Century Square thanks to the extra space created by the move.

Mall manager AsiaMalls Management will be able to carve out 23 specialty shops selling fashion and accessories on levels one and two.

Best Denki, which has 21,000 sq ft on level four, may take the entire floor.

These changes will tie in with the $7 million in enhancement works that AsiaMalls is planning in July.

Century Square is owned by Asian Retail Mall Fund, which also owns Tampines 1, the nearby 260,000 sq ft mall due to open late next year.

Source: The Strsits Times, 05 April 2007