Who will fill the prime real estate left behind by Robinsons?

WITH two substantial plots of prime real estate to be vacated when Robinsons Singapore exits, The Heeren and Raffles City Shopping Centre's landlords could divide the plots into smaller ones, rather than wait for a major tenant to take over the vast spaces, real estate observers have said.

Robinsons occupies a roughly 85,000 sq ft space, spanning three floors, at Raffles City. Its flagship at The Heeren takes up 186,000 sq ft of space, over six floors. Both are prime, street-facing retail shop fronts along Stamford Road and Orchard Road respectively, and are hard to come by, noted Ethan Hsu, head of retail at Knight Frank Singapore.

But the plots are also expensive to rent. Even though prime retail rents fell across the board in the third quarter of this year, Christine Li, head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia at Cushman & Wakefield, noted that the average rent for the area around Raffles City is S$20.25 per square foot (psf) per month. In the Orchard area, where The Heeren is located, the average rent works out to S$33.73 psf per month.