Old Supermarkets in Singapore … Snapshots of a Few Familiar Favourites (Part II)
From well loved big names to small artisan shops specialising in organic food, Singaporeans today are spoilt for choice when it comes to supermarkets. In the final of this two-part feature, Senior Librarian Barbara Quek explores more supermarket brands from the past, some of which still exist today.
In Part One of our feature, we showcase two of the oldest supermarkets in Singapore, Cold Storage and Fitzpatrick’s. Part Two continues with more supermarket brands that have served Singapore in the past.
Yaohan – “One-stop Family Shopping”
The word “Yaohan” in Japanese comprises two parts: “Yao” means fruit and vegetable business and “Han” is derived from the name of the founder’s father.¹ Yaohan first started as a family grocery business in Japan in 1928.²
Yaohan Singapore Pte Ltd was one of Singapore’s oldest Japanese retailers and officially opened its maiden store on 1 November 1974 at the newly built Plaza Singapura.³ Yaohan introduced the concept of one-stop shopping outlets in Singapore, a supermarket-cum-department store that set it apart from established Orchard Road stores like Cold Storage and Fitzpatrick’s.
Spread over the basement and the ground floor, Yaohan was a much beloved one-stop shopping haunt for Singaporeans. At that time, it had 16 checkout counters – the largest in any supermarket then and a 2,000 sq ft supervised children’s play area. New features include a delicatessen serving take-away western, local, and Japanese foods, an in-store open-view bakery and snack shops.⁴
I had mostly good memories of family shopping at Yaohan, marred only by a bad personal experience as I could not use a $200 gift voucher when Yaohan called it a day in Singapore. Yaohan (Japan), the parent company was declared insolvent in 1997. Thereafter, its Singapore operations were wound up as the company entered judicial management.⁵ The vouchers were deemed unsecured credit.⁶
Tay Buan Guan Supermarket – Pride of the East
Relatives and friends who lived in the east had always raved about Tay Buan Guan supermarket. It was the first supermarket in the area, established by entrepreneur Tay Leck Teck in 1948. A confectionery was added later, making the supermarket popular for its cakes and pastries. There was even a children’s corner with swings, see-saws, and merry-go-rounds.
An upmarket establishment, Tay Buan Guan attracted the Peranakans (Straits Chinese), Eurasians and the English-educated Chinese. But with development of other commercial centres in the area, such as Katong Shopping Centre in 1973 and Parkway Parade in 1984, the supermarket became a neighbourhood convenience store in the 1990s, while also having to lease part of it out to keep afloat.
Unable still to keep up with the competition, the family business, registered as Tay Buan Guan (Pte) Ltd, wound up in September 2000. The Tay Buan Guan building was then put up for sale.⁷ OUB Centre built Malvern Springs condominium on the plot behind the former Tay Buan Guan retail parcel which occupied a stretch of 13 shophouses at 83–119 (odd numbers) East Coast Road. It bought the site along the historic Tay Buan Guan retail complex component in 1997 for over $80 million.⁸ The original 83 East Coast Road is now occupied by Grand Oak TCM Clinic.⁹
Carrefour Hypermart
French chain Carrefour opened in 1997 amid much fanfare and newspapers heralding, “Here comes the giant”. The supermarket chain, with over 9,000 outlets worldwide, pioneered the first hypermart or superstore (combining a supermarket and a department store) in Singapore with its flagship store at Suntec City Mall.
It opened its second outlet at Plaza Singapura in 2003, with some 75,000 shoppers thronging the aisles on its first day.¹⁰ Employing no-frills fixtures and spartan store décor with wide aisles to accommodate trolleys, it operated on high volumes and sold everything from vegetables to underwear to bicycles.¹¹ It also competed with the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) FairPrice’s American-style Liberty Market which opened in December 1998.
Carrefour bade adieu to Singapore market after 15 years. It faced stiff competition from the biggest rival supermarkets in Singapore: Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm Group – which runs Giant, Cold Storage, and other chains – and homegrown kingpins NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong.¹²
Silo-PIEU in the Heartlands
Supermarkets run by unions dominated the housing estates. SILO (Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation) and PIEU (Pioneer Industries Employees’ Union) – the two largest affiliates of the NTUC at that time – set up supermarkets in neighbourhoods close to people’s homes in the heartlands. They complemented the supermarkets run by the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), then called NTUC Welcome supermarkets. The union-run supermarkets were set up in the 1970s when the world was facing a food shortage due to rising oil prices. At its peak, Silo and PIEU operated about 20 emporiums and supermarkets in Singapore, which included a branch at Changi Airport that opened in 1981.¹³
In the same year, Silo merged with PIEU to form the Singapore Employees’ Cooperatives (SEC) after Phey Yew Kok, the chief of both unions as well as the NTUC, fled the country to escape misappropriation charges. NTUC joined the fold in 1983, and the cooperative was renamed NTUC FairPrice.¹⁴
NTUC Welcome
Welcome was NTUC’s first air-conditioned co-operative store. It was opened on 22 July 1973 by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The Welcome Consumers’ Co-operative quickly morphed into the NTUC FairPrice chain of supermarkets to become FairPrice Group.¹⁶
The original Toa Payoh store at Block 192 Lorong 4 is still operational today. NTUC Welcome – the “people’s champion of prices that are fair”¹⁷ – prided itself on setting a benchmark for what constituted a fair price of rice at any time. They were able to keep prices fair as they were allowed to buy rice directly from the national stockpile, rather than from rice importers who would charge higher rates.
Welcome went one step further from price setter to importer. Instead of adding branches, it expanded quickly through a system much like franchising. In November 1976, it announced a scheme to allow provision shops to sell Welcome’s essential products such as rice, sugar and cooking oil – and earn a commission on sales. These stores were called “Fair Price” shops, a legacy name that lives on till today.¹⁸
The history of supermarkets in Singapore is certainly a colourful one. They must continually adapt to the ever-changing tastes of their customers to ensure that they remain relevant and competitive. Supermarkets have embraced technological advancements such as online shopping and delivery services to bring more convenience to their customers as well as diversifying their product offerings to include eco-friendly and organic options, for example, to align with prevailing consumer sentiments.
Barbara Quek is a Senior Librarian with the National Library, Singapore. She is part of the team that oversees the statutory functions of the National Library Board in the compliance of Legal Deposit in Singapore. Her work involves developing the National Library’s collections through gifts and exchange as well as providing content and reference services.
Further Readings
“15 Defunct Department Stores We Miss The Most,” from Remember Singapore website, 7 November 2020.
Kenneth Goh, “Yaohan,” Singapore Infopedia, published 29 January 2014.
Naidu Ratnala Thulaja, “Tay Buan Guan Supermarket,” Singapore Infopedia, published 24 January 2018.
[1] Yaohan Katong for One-Stop Family Shopping (1977) from PublicationSG.
[2] “Yaohan Plans to Open Two More Stores in S’pore,” Business Times, 17 March 1992, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
[3] Kenneth Goh, “Yaohan (Singapore),” published 29 January 2014. (From Infopedia)
[4] “The One-Stop Centre for the Family Shopping…,” New Nation, 2 November 1974, 18. (From NewspaperSG)
[5] Edna Koh, “Pioneering Supermarket Chain Caves In to Tough Times”, Straits Times, 23 December 1997, 43. (From NewspaperSG); Hiroshi Shimizu, Japanese Firms in Contemporary Singapore (Singapore: NUS Press, 2008), 62, 207. (Call no.: RSING 338.8895205957 SHI)
[6] “Yaohan Vouchers Can be Used to Buy Bed Linen,” Straits Times, 30 October 1997, 50; Kalpana Rashiwala, “Yaohan Voucher Owners Can File ‘Proof of Debt’,” Straits Times, 7 November 1997, 65. (From NewspaperSG)
[7] Naidu Ratnala Thulaja, “Tay Buan Guan Supermarket”, Singapore Infopedia, published 24 January 2018.
[8] “Katong Landmark Up for Sale,” Business Times, 4 December 2001, 8; Andrea Tan, “The Charms of Katong,” Business Times, 26 September 2002, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
[9] Location of Grand Oak Clinic as of July 2024.
[10] “Carrefour at Plaza”, New Paper, 29 January 2003, 6; Lin Yanqin and Tor Ching Li, “Store Wars”, Today, 30 December 2006, 1; Kalpana Kashiwala, “American-style Supermart for NTUC FairPrice”, Straits Times: Weekly Overseas Edition, 17 October 1998, 17; Koh Boon Pin, “There’s Popcorn While You Wait at Liberty Market”, Straits Times, 4 December 1998, 64. (From NewspaperSG)
[11] “Here Comes the Giant,” New Paper, 21 October 1997, 5; Amanda Lee, “French Hypermarket to Close Shop After 15 Years,” Today, 29 August 2012, Afternoon Edition; Ng Kai Ling, “French supermarket Carrefour to Exit Singapore,” Straits Times, 29 August 2012, 1; Kalpana Rashiwala, “Carrefour Plans Five Hypermarkets,” Straits Times, 1 May 1997, 62. (From NewspaperSG)
[12] Amanda Lee, “French Hypermarket to Close Shop After 15 Years,” Today, 29 August 2012, 2. Afternoon Edition. (From NewspaperSG)
[13] Tee Zhuo, “As Savewell Supermarkets Closed, Sheng Siong Was Born,” Straits Times, 28 June 2015, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
[14] Desmond Wee, “Silo Emporium,” 16 April 2015, from Singapore Slider: Then & Now, SPH Digital News, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co.; “Fair Price’s Welcome Birth,” Straits Times, 25 December 2004, 18; “Welcome to a Better Way of Shopping,” Straits Times, 9 April 1998, 34. (From NewspaperSG)
[15] SILO PIEU Supermarket & Emporium Anniversary, 3rd anniversary issue 1977 (From PublicationSG); “Record Profits for Unions’ 18 Super Marts,” Straits Times, 10 December 1978, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
[16] Chia Sue-Ann, The Price of Being Fair: The FairPrice Group Story (Singapore: The Nutgraf Books 2023), 10, 21, 23. (Call no. RSING 334.5095957 CHI)
[17] “Welcome to a Better Way of Shopping,” Straits Times, 9 April 1998, 34. (From NewspaperSG)
[18] Chia, Sue-Ann, The Price of Being Fair: the FairPrice Group Story, (Singapore: The Nutgraf Books, 2023), 17–18, 20, 23, 27–30. (Call no. RSING 334.5095957 CHI); “Fair Price’s Welcome Birth,” Straits Times, 25 December 2004, 18; “Welcome to a Better Way of Shopping,” Straits Times, 9 April 1998, 34. (From NewspaperSG)
