Friday, 25 December 2009
NTUC FairPrice sets up a new mini-mart in Eunos to the
dismay of local shopkeepers.
It may be the Christmas festive season, but shopkeeper Mohamed
Eliyas has little to cheer about.
Run for the last 12 years from a HDB shop unit at Block 6
along Eunos Crescent, the 66-year-old’s convenience store
business has never been all that prosperous. It provides a decent
livelihood for him and his three workers, nothing more.
The recession threatened to end all that. Nonetheless, Eliyas
managed to keep the business afloat, albeit only just – despite a
rent reduction last year, his monthly takings can barely cover the
running costs.
Some good tidings would have been welcome this holiday season,
yet none are forthcoming.
Three weeks ago, NTUC FairPrice – a retail chain with over 90
supermarkets across Singapore – announced its inauspicious arrival
to local shopkeepers by commencing renovation work for a new
mini-mart.
The store, located just 50 metres away from Eliyas’s shop, will
greet its first customers next Monday.
Faced with price competition from a major supermarket chain,
Eliyas fears the worst. He expects to lose 30 to 35 per cent of his
customers – a daunting prospect for his 34-year-old business. He
lamented: “How are we going to survive?”
Eliyas is not alone in his anguish. About seven other shops in
the area could face tougher times ahead.
An Indian shopkeeper, who preferred to remain anonymous, told
The Online Citizen that he could lose up to 50 per cent of his
earnings. “In the worst-case scenario, I may have to return the
shop [to the HDB],” he said.
Others expressed bewilderment. A 48-year-old male shop
assistant, who declined to be named, said in Mandarin: “This place
is a small pond. Why would a big fish like [FairPrice] want to come
here? There isn’t much room for it to swim.”
FairPrice, however, does not consider its presence to be
damaging to local business. A spokesperson told TOC: “The [new
store] will be replacing [an iEcon mini-mart]. As such, we do not
foresee this as adding new competition to the area.”
Setting up small stores in HDB estates is not a new gambit for
FairPrice. The supermarket chain currently runs more than 10
mini-marts, having opened its first one in the late 1970s.
“Our objective for the Eunos store is to serve the lower income
families in the area,” the spokesperson added.
And if FairPrice does honour its claim to make essential items
“affordable and accessible”, then local residents would not mind
their presence, regardless of the impact on small businesses.
“Competition is good for the consumer,” said Mdm Tan Siew Geok
in Mandarin. The 55-year-old housewife added: “It may not be great
for the shopkeepers, but consumers would welcome lower prices.”
Mdm Tang Siew Tiang agreed. The self-employed 54-year-old said
in Mandarin: “Most people will compare prices and buy from the shop
with the cheapest offerings.”
Nonetheless, she believes that local shopkeepers need not be
overly worried. “[FairPrice] doesn’t always offer the cheapest
prices. There will be items that will be less expensive to buy from
the other convenience stores,” she said.
Even so, shopkeepers are not optimistic about fending off
competition from a large commercial rival, given its brand name and
superior distribution links.
For Eliyas, an Indian Muslim, he can only hope that his range of
Indian goods and foodstuff might retain some patrons.
“I have some Indian customers, but I’m not sure they can cover
for [the loss of business] or not,” he explained. “If HDB reduces
the rent by 50 per cent, I hope I can make it. If not, there’s a
question mark [over my future].”
The future is similarly bleak for shopkeeper Chua Kia Joo. Now
in her eighties, she too faces the prospect of closing her
three-decade-old business.
Her daughter, who helps run the shop, summed up their mood. She
declined to be named, but said in Mandarin: “It’s not right for a
big company to come here and compete with us small businesses. How
do they expect us to do business?”
But beneath the indignation, she seemed resigned to the
inevitable.
“Eventually all the small businesses like ours will be
gone,” she sighed. “It is only a matter of time.”
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