Ahh, my main loves in live, alca-mar-ol, fodder….then SHOPPING and Singapore is my most favourite place to shop in the world (but Manila is hot on it's tail!).
The two main shopping strips in Singapore are Scotts Road; these are pretty much our equivalent of say Oxford Street & Bond Street. Scotts Road and Orchard Road pretty much sit in a t-shape & whilst staying in Singapore, most visitors will probably stay in this area, which is about half an hour or so from Changi Airport.
I am going to walk you up Scotts Road, at the top you will hit Orchard Road, and we will go left, up Orchard, towards Somerset and also right down Orchard, towards Tanglin - I may write other reviews on other shopping hotspots so look out!
My only shopping tip for you is please, please, please try and dress like a local otherwise you will be completely taken for a mug - the mentality out there is tourists have money to spend and are stoopid! Singapore is a much more "cosmopolitan" city than others in Asia, it is completely acceptable to wear mini skirts & strappy tops!
Remember to keep yourself hydrated, shopping in this heat will really take it out of you, the best thing to drink is an isotonic drink called 100+ these are available everywhere.
~SCOTTS ROAD~
The left side of the road….there are walkways to help you cross and you can always use the underground walkways to stay out of the sun!
~Far East Plaza~ Located right next door to the Goodwood, and the first shopping centre on Scotts, Far East Plaza is good for jewellery. You can get genuine sea pearls for $1SIN a strand, and lovely jewellery. You really have to bargain and make sure you don't look like a tourist to get a good deal; I managed to get an 18K white gold bracelet for $12SIN!!!
Far East Plaza is also a major hang out/meeting point for the local Singapore youth, and there are shops such as 77th street that sell skate wear. If you are into your trainers and want to get a really nice pair of Nike's then Far East Plaza is definitely the best place to go, recently a lot of trainer boutiques have started popping up. If Japanese style kitsch is what you are after (little things to hang off your mobile phones, flashing stickers, basic nick nacks), cutsie tops and shoes with little "Japanese" style slogans on them this is the place to go.
Walking further up the road you go past The Shopping Gallery at Hilton, which has all the brand names such as Gucci, Armani, Pucci & Paul Smith, next door is Scotts Shopping Centre, which has a great food hall. There is a Movenpick, an A&W, a really, really reasonable Japanese restaurant, right next to the entrance (if you are coming down from the street), which is about £15SIN for a bowl of noodle, an iced tea and some sushi! There is also a wide range of local foods
~Tangs Shopping Centre~ Next door to Scotts is Tangs, every visitor to Singapore must go to Tangs, it was founded in 1932 and stocks exclusive beauty products and good fashion labels. Tangs was actually the first place that I ever saw a MAC make-up stand (probably about 2/3 years before they appeared over here). In the basement you can get all sorts of white goods for your kitchen and there is a little food store too for snack like foods.
Tangs is at the end of Scotts Road, where Orchard Road begins, you can't miss the building; it is a big white hexagon with a red "Chinese" hat on the top. Leaving Tangs through the basement you can walk underground to Wisma Atria (other side of Orchard Road going away from Wheelock Place) & the underground system (the MRT), this is Orchard MRT Station, or you can get to Shaw House (Scotts Road) or Wheelock Place (other direction down Orchard).
Now for the right hand side of the road
~Pacific Plaza (right opposite Far East Plaza)~ Houses a massive Tower Records, spread over 3 floors, CDs tend to be slightly cheaper, but not by very much. There is a vintage shop in the basement where you can pick up designer second hand goods, and there are lots of surf shops, such as Stussy, Mambo & Billabong.
~Shaw Centre next door to Shaw House~ Shaw Centre has a really good Mango (entrance on the outside), but there is not much of a price difference to here in the UK, all the clothes seem to be the same stock too. Inside there are quite a few furniture shops, which include some specialist rosewood vendors; there are also a couple of local boutique shops and some really good restaurants.
Shaw House which is right next door (you can get from Shaw Centre to Shaw House without going onto the street) is the main shopping centre of Japanese expats, Shaw House is mainly a giant Isetan, which spans 4 floors, the top floor is a Lido Cinema complex with some fast food stalls such as Maccy D's, Burger King, KFC etc. Isetan is great for really reasonable every day street & work wear and there is a little Japanese supermarket downstairs, with more little fast food shops
~ORCHARD ROAD TOWARDS SOMERSET~
~Wisma Atria~ You cannot miss this place, it is the massive blue glass fronted structure on Orchard Road, and here you will find another Isetan. There are also a lot of High Street names such as Miss Sixty, Topshop & Warehouse. Be warned though, expect to pay around three times the price for something in Topshop in Singapore, and all the stock is the same as here at home. In the basement of Wisma Atria (coming in via Tangs & MRT) there is a really cool dollar store, with loads of little nick nacks, a Watson's (their version of boots), a couple of fast food restaurants, such as Pizza Hut oh and a brilliant cookie store (that used to be in Tangs) where you just buy cookies by weight! Make sure you look out for their giant aquariums (they have sharkies in them!).
~Ngee Ang City~ Come out of Wisma Atria and go right, you will get to Ngee Ang City; it's a big red building with a water fountain in front of it. Again there is another department store, the massive chain store Takashimaya. There is another Mango here, a Zara (again prices are pretty much the same as back home or possibly higher), Guess (which is really popular in Asia) etc.
You should put aside at least ¾ of your day if you want to properly explore this shopping centre, there is a Kinokuniya, a massive bookstore, apparently the biggest in south east Asia, again more food places, an art gallery and a culture centre!
~Lucky Plaza~ This is on the same side of the road as tangs, and right next door, on street level there are a couple of little "souvenir" style stores, that also sell lots of really cheap hair accessories, also worth a look is Condomania where you can buy condom trees! Going inside Lucky Plaza it's set over a couple of floors, there are plenty of money changers, who all have really good rates, tailors & electrical shops. These places are pretty good for digital cameras and handheld games consoles (will not be compatible with home though), remember to bargain - everything the shopkeepers tell you is a lie!
You can walk further up the road, I normally am too tired by this point and find a nice watering-hole, a good one on this part of the road is just outside Wisma Atria set down from the street, so nice an shady…the only problem is expect to pay about $12SIN for a TVR (vodka, redbull).
Further down the Orchard is a shopping centre called The Paragon (big white structure with really good air conditioning system) inside is a Metro (another department type store), there used to be loads of Metros all around Singapore, but they seem to be dying out. Also there are a lot of designer brands here, this place is not for the faint hearted (husband variety) or the light wallet lots of credit on credit card types!
If you go further on, you will get to OG Orchard Point, this is another department store, but really reasonable, and is slowly becoming more and more trendy. Opposite OG is the MRT station for Somerset.
~ORCHARD ROAD TOWARDS TANGALIN~
Shaw House sits on the corner, where Scotts Road meets Orchard Road; going down this side of the road is definitely more expensive than going in the Somerset direction. Going from Shaw House take the underground walkway (much cooler), with your back to Isetan turn right and go down the escalators.
~Wheelock Place~ Entering via the underground walkways, you will find yourself in Marks & Spencers that takes up two floors of this building and is massively over-priced. Once you get back to ground level, there is a massive Boarders Bookstore where you can spend all day reading. Out the back is a really good place to have a nice cold beer in the shade (be prepared to pay about $6SIN) for a bottle of beer.
The rest of Wheelock Place is taken up by expensive boutiques, but there is a really good Birkenstock shop there, and a couple of good restaurants. Outside Wheelock, on the street level there is quite a nice Starbucks. If approaching Wheelock overland, you can't miss it; it's a massive, blue, glass conical structure!
Walking further down Orchard there is a really large Zara and a Benetton, but again prices & stock is pretty similar to home, so not really worth it. Walking further down Orchard there are mainly designer boutiques, so I never really tend to go further than Wheelock, unless I want to go to the massive Toys R Us just before the Tanglin Centre.
Hope you enjoyed your little walk down Scotts/Orchard Road…I may write another review on other shopping hotspots to visit in Singapore!
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