I've always wanted to write a review regarding Topman. Just as well, since i just returned from my post-christmas shopping with my friends. I was in Bugis and we decided to pop by Topman for a while to check out the latest deals. Surprisingly, all of us got out of the store in Bugis after around 20 minutes of trying to find something we genuinely liked ! Didn't help either that the salesperson were all too busy arranging their stocks and buzzing around with sheets of invoices. We figured...it must've been the store's year-end stock counting or something.. Still, we felt neglected. Not that it mattered much though, ever since the emergence of Cotton-On and many other new labels, Topman has been going on the decline. I remember the days when i go to work to find my boss donning a Topman tie ! These days, the stores are swarmed by teens and even kids who just had enough pocket money to try their MyChemicalRomance look. I believe it'll pay for Topshop & its affiliates to continue their once valued customer services all year round. I also strongly believe, as per any thriving business, that Topman should start tapping into a different market area...that of 'teens' and 'kids'. After all, it seems to attract them the most these days ! Overall i rate Topman as a business with a great potential to grow, an otherwise comfy place to shop. Who'd know, some day we'd hear of TopKidz ? :) That'll be the day we see infants dressed up as members of MyChemicalRomance or GreenDay. Now, thats cool.
First of all, I've got to be honest with you guys. I hate furniture shopping. I find it one of the bulkiest kind of shopping anyone could do. ( I stuffed a sofa into my car ! ) Walk into IKEA, and the first thing you'd notice is the smell of freshly-cut wood, and the relaxed ambience of swedish simplicity.
Anyways, swedish furniture makers, IKEA, started a chain of Singaporean addicts when it started off in Alexandra. Now, situated conveniently between the two towns of Pasir Ris and Tampines, you could bet the east-siders of this island to be stocked with Swedish furniture anytime now. (with hotdogs in their mouth too )..
Its a relatively huge 'warehouse-like' shopping center that boasts a variety of furniture candy like sofas, chairs, tables, you name it, they've got it. Its an excellent place to bring your future parents-in-law if you've got to please them with promises of new furniture. :)
HOWEVER, the parking space isn't much during peak hours. Its a little cramp if you ask me. The pick-up area of the car park, isn't organised properly, so most often then not, you'd have to plan where to park your car so you don't block the others. AND, you'd have to be fast, during peak hours. :)
Otherwise, if you don't have a car, or you take the public transport, there's always the shuttle service. I think that's nice of IKEA.
All in all, its a good shopping experience knowing that your money spent at IKEA always comes worth every penny. Try to notice...that everytime you walk into IKEA, you'd go "wow..thats so simple,and yet so nice.. I'm going to get it done that way"... Unfortunately, too much nice, usually screws up our mind. ;)
I heard about Fork&Spoon from my mother. So i walked around the hub looking for this food court. Wasn't hard to find it. But the accessibility to the food court is questionable. I would say, next time i go there, i'd take the escalator in Courts and walk up to the 2nd floor, and walk via the bridge into the food court. Waiting for the lift was hellish.
Anyways, once i got into the food court, i smiled. It was clean, with a simple hawker layout, and all the food were halal. So it wasn't much of a surprise to see alot of malay aunties and uncles there. The drink stall served juices and the regular drinks at a hawker centre. But it was the food stalls that amaze me. From western dishes, to a noodle store, to an Indonesian rice stall, Chicken rice stall, Soup stall, the conventional malay nasi padang stall, and the japanese food stall, its no wonder it got my mom bragging she ate like a cow that afternoon.
So i got myself the chicken rice. White meat. (thats how i like it.. white meat .heh) and guess what ? its good ! Worth my 3bux. and the tender chicken made me order another one,for my sis at home.
The service was good as well, fast and clean. And most importantly, the cleaner aunties and uncles didn't bother me to clean up my table. They only cleared the table when i'm done and going off. That is courtesy. I've had my share of aunties and uncles at certain food courts that 'die-die' want to clear up plates and wipe the table when i'm still digging in my food and drinks. And most of the time, i'd let them do their job. (with cursings in my breath)
So, get yourself down to ToaPayoh HDB hub and try the food at Fork&Spoon and enjoy the ambience of old,ancient aunties and uncles sipping their coffee and enjoying their fried kway teow in an air-conditioned food court.
A warning though, it would be packed at lunch time and after school time. But a little candy to the eyes wouldn't hurt would it ? :)
The first time Carrefour opened in Singapore, there was a commotion between my family members regarding its pronounciation.. Care-four ? car-fooh ? well.. no conclusion as yet.
But in all seriousness, Carrefour prides itself as the supreme supermarket with humble price tags. From electronic goods, to groceries, to clothings, toys, stationeries, and sports equipments.. you name it, they've got it. Its one of those supermarkets where you walk in and have a hard time looking for what you intended to buy in the first place. :)
Carrefour Suntec is the bigger of its sibling outlet in Plaza Singapura. Aside its huge floor space (2 floors i believe !), and the variety of products on shelves, it also hosts some of the most friendliest employees i've seen in a supermarket. (NTUC auntie, eat your heart out !)
The trend in Carrefour as i've recognised lately is that it serves customers as a business partner more than a customer. Have you guys ever noticed a Carrefour advertisement on TV/ radio ? They rely solely on their current customers to market their products to others. (through pamphlets, cheap products that become the talking point at every family outing etc).
All in all, i believe Carrefour is a business that can only succeed in Singapore. The way its going, even GIANT supermarket is trying to emulate its success. Now, given a chance, i'd love to see Carrefour start a few smaller branches in neighbourhood shopping malls.
Its one of the places to visit if you're in Suntec City Mall, and you could be guaranteed to find something and go "its cheaper here", OR "what?! MADE IN CHINA ?!" ...
The first impression i had of Candy Empire was 'hmm, a new government to topple the hard-earned Colgate bearing Singaporean parent'.
But as soon as i walked into the Vivo outlet, i was smitten by the variety of sweets,chocolates and biscuits they have. Literally, it was like a trades place of candy from all over the world (except, you trade it with cash...)
One of my favourite candy of all time has got to be anything that is WillyWonka's. (ok..i admit..it sounds a little gay).. but in all seriousness, i did not expect much of WillyWonka's candy in Singapore. Candy Empire served a healthy variety of WillyWonka's candy. And i'm gay ! (happy..)
So, other then the countless stacks and rows of candy, Candy Empire happens to rack up on biscuits of all kinds too. I happen to be someone sentimental when it comes to gifts. And as i understand, my aunts,mothers,grandmothers,god-mothers (ladies of the 40's kind and above), ...they find unique biscuits a novelty. Either that, or they'd just gobble it up anyways.
But still, Candy Empire is an experience for any Candy Loving Singaporean who is stuck to their mamak stall half their lives trying to find something more unique then the chuppa-chups.
My only regret walking into CandyEmpire ? i couldn't blend in well with the boys and girls running around like they've got to stock up on candy because tomorrow's judgement day. I tried though..
I was in Bugis and we decided to pop by Topman for a while to check out the latest deals. Surprisingly, all of us got out of the store in Bugis after around 20 minutes of trying to find something we genuinely liked ! Didn't help either that the salesperson were all too busy arranging their stocks and buzzing around with sheets of invoices. We figured...it must've been the store's year-end stock counting or something.. Still, we felt neglected.
Not that it mattered much though, ever since the emergence of Cotton-On and many other new labels, Topman has been going on the decline. I remember the days when i go to work to find my boss donning a Topman tie ! These days, the stores are swarmed by teens and even kids who just had enough pocket money to try their MyChemicalRomance look.
I believe it'll pay for Topshop & its affiliates to continue their once valued customer services all year round. I also strongly believe, as per any thriving business, that Topman should start tapping into a different market area...that of 'teens' and 'kids'. After all, it seems to attract them the most these days !
Overall i rate Topman as a business with a great potential to grow, an otherwise comfy place to shop.
Who'd know, some day we'd hear of TopKidz ? :) That'll be the day we see infants dressed up as members of MyChemicalRomance or GreenDay.
Now, thats cool.
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Walk into IKEA, and the first thing you'd notice is the smell of freshly-cut wood, and the relaxed ambience of swedish simplicity.
Anyways, swedish furniture makers, IKEA, started a chain of Singaporean addicts when it started off in Alexandra. Now, situated conveniently between the two towns of Pasir Ris and Tampines, you could bet the east-siders of this island to be stocked with Swedish furniture anytime now. (with hotdogs in their mouth too )..
Its a relatively huge 'warehouse-like' shopping center that boasts a variety of furniture candy like sofas, chairs, tables, you name it, they've got it. Its an excellent place to bring your future parents-in-law if you've got to please them with promises of new furniture. :)
HOWEVER, the parking space isn't much during peak hours. Its a little cramp if you ask me. The pick-up area of the car park, isn't organised properly, so most often then not, you'd have to plan where to park your car so you don't block the others. AND, you'd have to be fast, during peak hours. :)
Otherwise, if you don't have a car, or you take the public transport, there's always the shuttle service. I think that's nice of IKEA.
All in all, its a good shopping experience knowing that your money spent at IKEA always comes worth every penny.
Try to notice...that everytime you walk into IKEA, you'd go "wow..thats so simple,and yet so nice.. I'm going to get it done that way"... Unfortunately, too much nice, usually screws up our mind. ;)
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Anyways, once i got into the food court, i smiled. It was clean, with a simple hawker layout, and all the food were halal. So it wasn't much of a surprise to see alot of malay aunties and uncles there. The drink stall served juices and the regular drinks at a hawker centre.
But it was the food stalls that amaze me. From western dishes, to a noodle store, to an Indonesian rice stall, Chicken rice stall, Soup stall, the conventional malay nasi padang stall, and the japanese food stall, its no wonder it got my mom bragging she ate like a cow that afternoon.
So i got myself the chicken rice. White meat. (thats how i like it.. white meat .heh) and guess what ? its good !
Worth my 3bux. and the tender chicken made me order another one,for my sis at home.
The service was good as well, fast and clean. And most importantly, the cleaner aunties and uncles didn't bother me to clean up my table. They only cleared the table when i'm done and going off. That is courtesy.
I've had my share of aunties and uncles at certain food courts that 'die-die' want to clear up plates and wipe the table when i'm still digging in my food and drinks. And most of the time, i'd let them do their job. (with cursings in my breath)
So, get yourself down to ToaPayoh HDB hub and try the food at Fork&Spoon and enjoy the ambience of old,ancient aunties and uncles sipping their coffee and enjoying their fried kway teow in an air-conditioned food court.
A warning though, it would be packed at lunch time and after school time. But a little candy to the eyes wouldn't hurt would it ? :)
Wendy said:
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Try the Japanese food. It's nice and the serving is big!
01 Aug 2008 at 11:54 pm
But in all seriousness, Carrefour prides itself as the supreme supermarket with humble price tags. From electronic goods, to groceries, to clothings, toys, stationeries, and sports equipments.. you name it, they've got it. Its one of those supermarkets where you walk in and have a hard time looking for what you intended to buy in the first place. :)
Carrefour Suntec is the bigger of its sibling outlet in Plaza Singapura. Aside its huge floor space (2 floors i believe !), and the variety of products on shelves, it also hosts some of the most friendliest employees i've seen in a supermarket. (NTUC auntie, eat your heart out !)
The trend in Carrefour as i've recognised lately is that it serves customers as a business partner more than a customer. Have you guys ever noticed a Carrefour advertisement on TV/ radio ? They rely solely on their current customers to market their products to others. (through pamphlets, cheap products that become the talking point at every family outing etc).
All in all, i believe Carrefour is a business that can only succeed in Singapore. The way its going, even GIANT supermarket is trying to emulate its success. Now, given a chance, i'd love to see Carrefour start a few smaller branches in neighbourhood shopping malls.
Its one of the places to visit if you're in Suntec City Mall, and you could be guaranteed to find something and go "its cheaper here", OR "what?! MADE IN CHINA ?!" ...
To each, his own opinion. :)
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
But as soon as i walked into the Vivo outlet, i was smitten by the variety of sweets,chocolates and biscuits they have. Literally, it was like a trades place of candy from all over the world (except, you trade it with cash...)
One of my favourite candy of all time has got to be anything that is WillyWonka's. (ok..i admit..it sounds a little gay).. but in all seriousness, i did not expect much of WillyWonka's candy in Singapore. Candy Empire served a healthy variety of WillyWonka's candy. And i'm gay ! (happy..)
So, other then the countless stacks and rows of candy, Candy Empire happens to rack up on biscuits of all kinds too. I happen to be someone sentimental when it comes to gifts. And as i understand, my aunts,mothers,grandmothers,god-mothers (ladies of the 40's kind and above), ...they find unique biscuits a novelty. Either that, or they'd just gobble it up anyways.
But still, Candy Empire is an experience for any Candy Loving Singaporean who is stuck to their mamak stall half their lives trying to find something more unique then the chuppa-chups.
My only regret walking into CandyEmpire ? i couldn't blend in well with the boys and girls running around like they've got to stock up on candy because tomorrow's judgement day. I tried though..
Now you try..
Bobo said:
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!:) Your review reads like a story. :) nice!
22 May 2008 at 8:34 am