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SINGAPORE: While several new malls are being built along Orchard Road, Meritus Mandarin Hotel has been quietly renovating its shopping wing.
Mandarin Gallery will re-open in December, competing with new entrants on the prime shopping district for the retail dollar.
Meritus Mandarin Hotel is turning its lobby, ballrooms and function rooms into retail space - offering four floors of shopping.
The new mall will have a net lettable area of about 130,000 square feet. It is being marketed by OUE Group, which is seeing strong interest from retailers.
Patrina Tan, senior vice-president of retail, marketing and leasing, OUE Group, said: "We are slightly over 90 per cent leased in the mall. Being intimate-sized, we need to take a focus in the positioning and product mix that we offer as a shopping mall.
"In our brand mix, we will have reputable international luxury brands like Emporio Armani, Mont Blanc, D&G, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Y3, which will be a new entry to Singapore, (and) jewellery brands like Maboussin. These are some of the brands that you will find in Mandarin Gallery when we open."
And what used to be a carpark outside the hotel will also be transformed into a pedestrian walkway.
Mandarin Gallery is well aware of the competition it faces, with three new, large malls opening along the same stretch of Orchard Road.
Tan said: "Based on the new projects coming on stream, all within this quarter to the end of this year, I personally see all the malls have carved out their own niche in terms of positioning and offering for different market segments.
"Mandarin, because it is an intimate-sized mall, our whole intent and purpose when we decided on the mix and positioning was to look at our immediate adjacencies in this junction - what are their success factors and who they already have. And what we try to do is to complement it, versus going head on in terms of competition."
Mandarin also plans to target a niche group of customers - the affluent and well-travelled younger generation.
Tan said: "We target the segment of the market where we feel there is a gap - the younger, affluent, well-travelled and discerning (shoppers)... I suppose that's the difference for us."
In the past, the shops at Mandarin catered to hotel guests, but the new gallery marks a change in the hotel's business strategy.
Tan said: "In the past, I must say the owners never really saw retail as a key component for the property. With the size of 60,000 square feet, it was mainly to just cater to the needs of hotel guests. As such, the tenancy mix was a bit of everything that would provide convenience to the hotel guests.
"The decision was made some time in early 2006 or so when owners felt it would be a good opportunity to look at maximising the value of the property. Because what we have here, the Meritus Mandarin Hotel, is situated on a very prime location."
- CNA/yt
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