What Singapore can learn from Chengdu about revitalising retail

I RECENTLY attended an immersive overseas learning programme in Chengdu, which was jointly organised by the Singapore Management University Academy and Singapore Retailers Association. The trip showed what Singapore retail needs to rethink, in a time when Orchard Road’s shine seems to be dulling.

Singapore often begins with the question: “What tenants should we bring in?” Chengdu’s better retail operators seem to begin elsewhere: “Why would people want to be here?”

Nowhere else was this more apparent than at Dongjiao Memory, a hub that combines art, culture and retail.