Singapore’s shopping hub Orchard Road buckles under coronavirus as economic pain grows

Malls along the 2.4km stretch are dotted with empty stores and the queues of Chinese tourists outside luxury outlets are also missing

‘It’s the worst crisis for Singapore and Orchard Road,’ says a shop owner

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Pedestrians pass along Orchard Road in Singapore. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 11:00am, 3 Aug 2020Updated: 11:38am, 3 Aug 2020

A walk down Orchard Road shows just how badly the coronavirus pandemic has hit Singapore’s famed shopping strip.

Gone are popular restaurants like Modesto’s, which shut last month after 23 years. Also missing are the queues of Chinese tourists outside Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Malls along the 2.4 kilometre (1.5 mile) stretch, once one of Asia’s top shopping meccas, are dotted with empty stores.

On a recent midweek afternoon, the number of shop staff idly dusting shelves or playing with their mobile phones rather than greeting customers is notable.

“It’s the worst crisis for Singapore and Orchard Road,” said Kiran Assodani, who has run her custom tailor shop in one of the older malls for 35 years. The alterations outlet, which caters to both tourists and locals, has seen sales drop by 90 per cent since the virus outbreak. “I don’t know if the shops can weather this storm.”

Orchard Road’s malaise is a microcosm of the city state’s pain. After initial success in containing Covid-19, an outbreak swept through scores of dormitories housing foreign workers, prompting a two-month partial lockdown that is sending the economy toward its worst-ever recession.

Global travel restrictions are robbing Singapore of around US$20 billion in tourism receipts and the domestic market is too small to make up the shortfall.