Pinball Redux

AS A SHOPPING MALL, Sim Lim Square always had an air of notoriety about it.

It opened in the late 1980s as a one-stop mall for printers and TV sets. In time, it became a hotspot for pirated CDs, illegal set-top media boxes, and cheap mobile phones. It was also infamous for its hard sell tactics and unscrupulous salesmen.

Things came to a head in 2014. The mall made headlines when a shop owner was arrested and prosecuted for cheating offences, preying on foreigners who spoke limited English and low-wage workers. Customers gave Sim Lim a wide berth.