Jewel Changi Airport regains its glitter, but for some tenants it’s too little, too late

JEWEL, the 1.46 million square feet (sq ft) mall at Changi Airport, recorded its best ever monthly retail sales in December 2022 as shoppers and tourists returned in force.

Prospects look rosy with airport passenger traffic and retail footfall recovering strongly. But the going has been tough on tenants at the glossy new mall that opened some nine months before the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed businesses.

Some 74 tenants have exited the three-year-old mall over the last two years, more than half due to a revamp of Jewel’s Basement 1 space. British retailer Marks & Spencer will soon shut its Jewel store too. The mall, connected to the arrival hall of Terminal 1 of Changi Airport, opened in 2019 with more than 280 tenants operating.