10 Retailers That We Feel Are Not ‘Essential’ Enough to Stay Open During Circuit Breaker Period

There are many things that are subjective and open for debate: is Netflix or Amazon Prime Video better? Android or iPhone? Cats or dogs?

And in recent days, it’s this:

Is bubble tea considered an essential business or not?

Reader Bao: Of course it is! You’d better not open this can of worms

Don’t worry, I love bubble tea as much as I love my job so I’d definitely not be impartial here.

Since the implementation of Circuit Breaker measures, people have been wondering why certain shops can still open, and hence the debate on the loose meaning of “essential” has been a household topic: are dessert shops considered essential?

It doesn’t help that today, all McDonald’s outlets are closed, and they’re definitely essential. That goes to show the risk of keeping a store open, not to mention the risk of the essential employees having to leave the house.

And so, with the help of me myself and a list of retailers that I managed to retrieve from shopping malls, here are 10 retailers that have been debated endlessly on whether they should remain open during this Circuit Breaker period.

You can feel free to disagree, especially when the first retailer in the list is none other than…

Bubble Tea Stalls

Reader Bao: Holy crap, you just opened—

There’s no question about this: ask ten people and nine would agree that bubble tea stalls should cease operations during this period.

The only one person who disagrees? It’s a person like Reader Bao who needs 15 cups of bubble tea to go through the day.

There is no reason for it to stay open except for the fact that they have a food license, which means they’re considered essential by the authorities.

Last I heard, no one has died from not drinking bubble tea.

Reader Bao: If you dare publish this article I’ll be the first victim

You don’t need bubble tea; you need help.

Bak Kwa Stalls

The other retailer that’s confused even the cats in Yishun is bak kwa stalls.

In fact, do you know that you can buy packaged bak kwa from supermarkets?

For a start, I didn’t even know why people would buy bak kwa in the first place, and secondly, haven’t they earned enough from the pre-CNY period?

Cafes

Unless you’re been on Circuit Breaker mode since you were born, you’d know that the main purpose of a café is usually not for people to get a caffeine rush from a cup of coffee.

It’s for Instagram.

People were in cafés to take selfies with their MacBook and tell the world that they’re working on nothing for nobody. With dine-in banned now, people are ordering fancy branded coffee to put on their desk for a Zoom meeting with nobody, and taking a selfie soon after to hashtag #WFH

I know Instagram is essential for some, but no one’s died from not humblebragging for a month.

Hair Salons / Barbers

I had a haircut before the Circuit Breaker measures kicked in and asked the hairdresser whether they’d be open during the CB period. He immediately said, “Of course not,” claiming that providing just haircut would be completely unprofitable.

And the last time I was out, I’ve also noticed that many hair salons aren’t open.

While we could all become the OG F4 if we don’t cut our hair for a month…

…our long hair isn’t going to poke into our eyes and blind us, if not Jerry Yan would have died years ago.

So why keep it open? In Malaysia, some barbers even refused to open after the certain restrictions were lifted during the MCO extension (though they restricted it again soon after).

Money Changers

A check on the Facebook page of several malls shows that money changers are still open.

While it’s essential for people going overseas, the question is: why are people still going overseas?

Business trips? Don’t sian us: we do work with companies not based in Singapore and everything has gone online in other countries, too. You’re just hoping to get some cheap ringgits because it’s now at 3.07.

Dessert Stalls

Even if your brain is made of potato soup, you’d know that it doesn’t even make sense.

One, you won’t die if you don’t have a bingsu for a month.

And two, dabao-ing dessert back home is like dabao-ing hotpot—it doesn’t make sense.

Or does it?

Hotpot Restaurants

I know how you look like now:

I’ve the same expression.

Now, unless those restaurants have changed their menu in record speed to cater to the dabao crowd, I believe the reason they stay open is just to enjoy the air-conditioner.

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Juice Stalls

In recent years, stalls that sell fancy juices have popped up everywhere.

And similar to bak kwa, these juices can also be found in supermarkets if you want to feel healthy. Heck, you can even make it yourself at home.

The only difference?

Homemade ones can’t be used for fitspo posts on Instagram, so in other words, this is yet another retailer opened for Instagram and not for us.

Frozen Yogurt / Ice-Cream Stalls

Do you know that you can dabao frozen yogurt—even before COVID-19 wreak havoc in our lives?

Bet you didn’t know this.

They’d be packed in boxes that can keep the temperature low, and they’re good for days when the sun is merciless and so you’ve just ordered one after a swim.

But now, the world’s different and people won’t die from not having ice-cream. And once again, you can get those ice-cream from supermarkets as well.

So pray tell me: why’re they still open?

Snack Stalls

Not going to name names, but there are a number of stalls that sell mainly biscuits or cookies that are still open.

Firstly, we now have potato chips while Netflix-ing, because there are just too many shows to watch and we can’t afford to buy those atas cookies for our prolonged Netflix sessions.

And secondly, why risk the people working there when surely no one would die from switching from cookies to potato chips during their eight-hour daily Netflix sessions?

Don’t Get Triggered

Before you go apeshit and decide to uninstall the Goody Feed app because you don’t agree with this list, don’t: remember, these are subjective, and you can agree to disagree.

Though you’ve got to admit many people disagree with bubble tea shops staying open #justsaying

And if you love bubble tea so much, you might want to check out this video about bubble tea:

(Also check out our YouTube channel for more informative and entertaining videos!)