JB Businesses Suffered Due to Lack of S’poreans; Popular Bakery Shop Hiap Joo Lost Up to 50% Of Sales

The ongoing epidemic has caused recession in multiple parts of the world, forcing shops to close down and employees to be laid off.

And naturally, Singapore’s no exception. Over the past few months, the Singapore government has had to introduce a plethora of job support schemes, and even then businesses (arguably) still struggle to stay afloat.

In fact, you can read this article to find out if your favourite F&B outlets have closed down:

And across the causeway, it seems that our neighbours are facing the same dire circumstances as us. Though rather than a decrease in Malaysian consumers…

It’s the lack of Singaporean customers that has caused their businesses to go downhill.

JB Businesses Suffered Due to Lack of S’poreans; Popular Bakery Shop Hiap Joo Lost Up to 50% Of Sales

Businesses in JB have reportedly suffered from a distinct lack of Singaporean shoppers.

The Johor state government’s revenue, for instance, has dropped by 20%, part of which can be accredited to the absence of Singaporean visitors.

Food & Beverage (F&B outlets), hairdressing shops and car wash service providers have also been affected.

The popular bakery shop Hiap Joo, which allegedly owes 30% to 50% of their sales to Singaporeans, has seen their sales drop by a whopping 50% since the start of the lockdown in Malaysia.

For those unaware, Hiap Joo is one of Singaporeans’ favourite haunts in JB, and is famous for its banana cakes.

Thankfully, however, domestic demands proved sufficient for the owners to get by and pay the workers their due salaries.

Meanwhile, mainstream shopping malls such as the Paradigm Mall and the Paragon Market Place have also seen a significant drop in the number of shoppers.

“Obviously, without the Singaporeans, the numbers are badly affected,” said a spokesperson of Paradigm Mall.

Domestic Demands

Despite the downturn in business revenue, businesses in JB have found ways to cope with the economic crisis, including a switch in focus to the domestic market.

For instance, drive-through pick up services, that allow Malaysian shoppers to collect their purchases from the mall without having to go inside, are now a thing.

Several retails have also gone down the online route to market their products, while others branched out to cover additional opportunities.

“Rather than waiting to die, we try to go online,” said Lin Zhong Wu, a motorcycle repair and servicing shop owner. To keep his business running, he has turned to the sale of disinfectants via live-streaming.

“In the past, we were too busy and didn’t spend much time on online marketing.”

The borders are set to reopen on 10 August, but that’s only for long-term pass holders. Hopefully, businesses will then be able to pick up the pace once again when Singaporean shoppers are allowed to cross the causeway.

Though with the ongoing epidemic in mind, it might admittedly take a while for sales to reach the heights of before.

If not, RWS wouldn’t have conducted its retrenchment exercise.