International brands flock to Orchard Road, CBD amidst retail woes

European labels fast-growing in Singapore.

According to Savills, Orchard Road maintained its status as one of the most desired locations for new brands to penetrate the Asian market. International fashion brands such as Cath Kidston, Ugg and Religion set up their first Singapore stores in the Orchard Road precinct.

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The first two brands opened standalone stores at Ngee Ann City and ION Orchard respectively, while Religion made its mark through Isetan at Wisma Atria. European brand Sisley also joined the bandwagon by opening its first beauty boutique at Paragon.

In addition, Coach opened its first standalone boutique focusing on men’s fashion at Ngee Ann City to further strengthen its position as a leading fashion brand in Singapore. Overall, European brands have expanded faster here relative to other brands.

This could be due to their belief that in comparison to their home regions, Singapore, and also Asia, count as the fastest growing markets in the world.

Over in the CBD, Swiss luxury watchmaker, Parmigiani Fleurier, opened its first standalone boutique in Southeast Asia at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. The retail component of the integrated resort also tends to attract other luxury brands, including Mikimoto, which opened its third largest store in Southeast Asia here.

Other luxury brands that have entered the retail scene here or have pre-committed to retail space include Anne Fontaine and Ermenegildo Zegna, with the latter taking up 3,540 sq ft for its fourth store in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Suntec City Mall officially reopened Towers One, Two and Five in September after the completion of the first phase of renovation. This was just in time to cash-in on the Formula 1 crowd. The completed phase managed to sign on high-street fashion labels such as Uniqlo and H&M as anchor tenants and megastore Cotton On.

The committed occupancy rate was 99.6% for the first phase while Phase Two achieved a pre-committed occupancy of 83.7%. Phases Two and Three are expected to be completed by Q1/2014 and Q4/2014 respectively, with the second phase featuring an 11-screen cinema complex by Golden Village, its second largest in Singapore.