Quay-ed Up

When Jane Hia opened her first Kith Cafe outlet in 2009, she chose Robertson Quay because of a few unique characteristics - the catchment of expatriate residents, cheaper-than-CBD rental, and the wide walkway between her outlet and the Singapore River.

"When we first opened, our leg of the river was a lot quieter compared to now. For the first one or two years, we had to give people directions because when you get to the bridge it looks like there's nothing there anymore, so many people just turned around," she recalls.

Over the years, however, the landscape at Robertson Quay has evolved quite significan…