Jewel at Changi Airport first opened its doors in April 2019, welcoming up to 300,000 visitors per day.

However, less than a year after the iconic development was opened to the public, a number of retailers have given feedback that business has been slow.

Branch outlets outside Jewel doing much better, says retail staff

Changi Airport Group's press release in Oct. 2019 wrote that Jewel attracted about 50 million visitors, including repeat customers, in its first six months, surpassing its initial target of drawing 40 million to 50 million visitors yearly.

But it is unclear how much of the visitor traffic translated to foot traffic for retail stores located in Jewel.

According to an article by The Straits Times on Jan. 13, 2020, retail staff members at eight out of 17 shops surveyed responded that it has been a challenge meeting their sales targets.

Retails chains that have multiple outlets in more accessible areas of Singapore were observed to be doing better in outlets outside of Jewel.

The retail manager of a fashion store located in Jewel, who didn't want to be named, told ST that the store has failed to meet its sales target for the last three months.

"Though business picked up in December because of the school holidays, sales are still not that great.

Many people come here to eat and look at the waterfall rather than actually shop," she said.

She added that the store's branch outlet in Orchard Road has been performing three times better than the outlet at Jewel.

Other stores that ST checked with also said that their branch outlets in Orchard Road seem to fare significantly better than the ones located in Jewel.

Sales largely affected by location, tourist traffic

A retail staff of a fashion store located outside of the prime floors told ST that traffic is generally lower at the basement levels, as customers tend to to stay around retail stores at level one and two.

The unnamed staff shared that Jewel visitors don't shop for long, as many of them would prefer to spend time exploring the attractions instead.

A part-time sales staff working at popular salted egg snack store Irvins, said that most of their customers are tourists from countries such as China, Indonesia and Thailand.

As such, the store gets fewer customers during the school term of those countries, as tourist traffic is generally higher during school holidays.

Not all stores adversely affected

However, local fashion brand In Good Company had a better experience, as they reported good foot traffic at their level one store in Jewel.

In Good Company's managing director of sales Jaclyn Teo told ST that they were optimistic about 2020, as they've been seeing increased foot traffic over the last few months.

"The store's food and beverage partner, Birds of Paradise, has seen snaking queues and an increasing fan following, both local and overseas, at its gelato boutique," Teo added.

According to ST, their branch at Jewel has seen roughly twice the amount of tourist spending compared with each of the brand's two stores in Orchard Road.

Shorter hours, better morale

It was also noted that restaurant businesses have been doing well in the past few months, especially after the operating hours were changed.

In July 2019, all eight restaurants at Jewel’s fifth floor Canopy Park shortened their operating hours.

They are now open from 9:00am to 1:00am (Fridays, Saturdays and eve of public holidays), and 10:00am to midnight (Sundays to Thursdays).

Prior to the change, level five restaurants were operating daily from 9:00am to 3:00am.

The shorter hours have said to help improve staff welfare and manpower management.

Top image via Mothership/Facebook

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