Japan Home is retreating and rents are rising. Singapore retail could pay the price

JAPAN Home’s recent retreat from the retail scene should concern more than bargain hunters. The household-goods chain closed several Singapore outlets in June and July, before licensing its remaining stores to Radha Exports, the company behind Value Dollar (Valu$).

Its loss for the financial year ended April 2025 more than doubled to S$2.3 million from a year earlier.

The story captures a larger contradiction. In the second quarter of 2026, Urban Redevelopment Authority’s retail rental index rose 0.6 per cent. Yet occupied retail space fell by a net 37,000 square metres, and the islandwide vacancy rate edged up from 6.3 to 6.5 per cent.