Heartland Shops in S’pore Experience a Drop in Patronage With the Exception of Supermarkets

For a long, long time, heartland shops have served us with undying heart and precision as they seek to relieve our neighborhood-related burdens.

“And what do I ask for in return?” asked the owner of the local heartland shop, Mr Tan Ah Kow. “Nothing. Nothing except for patronage, and enough profit to sustain my family, friends, grandparents, the President of Singapore and my rental expenses.”

Undeniably, to them, we owe an unsaid debt of convenience and accessibility.

But times are changing. And though Mr Tan (name and story both fictional) refuses to pass his shop to the next generation, the HDB residents are embracing changes of their own.

Changes such as ‘”boycotting” these heartland shops, in favour of online shopping.

Heartland Shops Experience a Drop in Patronage With the Exception of Supermarkets

It appears that with the exception of supermarkets, heartland shops have largely experienced a drop in patronage.

And it’s not even due to the pandemic.

Back in 2018, only half of the HDB residents surveyed stated that they visited a neighbourhood amenity at least once a week.

This is a far cry from just eight years ago, when 63.5 per cent of residents surveyed stated the same.

Considering how there are more than 100 neighbourhood centres across 24 HDB towns, the figures cut a worrying trend for these shops.

According to TODAYonline, patronage across wet or dry markets, hawker centres and food courts fell by around 7 to 8 percentage points, with 63.9 per cent, 56.5 per cent and 38.1 per cent of residents professing that they turned up at these places at least once a week respectively.

Visits to coffeeshops or eating houses have also dipped from 61.6% in 2013 to 59.9% in 2018.

Supermarkets, however, continue to thrive. The figure increased from 80 per cent in 2013, to 81.4 per cent in 2018.

For the record, the survey results are in accordance with the latest HDB Sample Household Survey – which is held once every five years.

Happiness

Despite a shift towards online shopping, HDB has said that “heartland shops continue to play an important role in serving the needs of residents.”

This can be seen in the satisfaction level across retail estates, with some 97.9% of HDB residents surveyed stating that they were happy with shopping or retail facilities in the neighbourhood.

At the same time, HDB stated that it will continue to support neighbourhood shops through measures like the Revitalisation of Shops scheme – which seeks to upgrade common areas of HDB towns and neighbourhood centres.

However, it has also encouraged merchants to consider the prospect of joining the online trend.

“Merchants in heartland precincts have also been encouraged to digitalise, to keep up with the online shopping trend and adopt e-payment,” it added.

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