SINGAPORE: A visit to Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre always felt like a treat for Cubbert Dooa when he was young.
With air-conditioned shopping centres being a novelty in the 1980s, the six-storey building was the area’s first, delighting residents like Mr Dooa and his family.
Crowds were a common sight, especially at Oriental Emporium – then Singapore’s largest department store chain – located on the fourth floor.
“In those days, it was rare that your parents took you out to go shopping and this is shopping in a building with air-con,” the 58-year-old recalled.
Today, Mr Dooa still frequents Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre but no longer as a curious kid. For the past 29 years, he has been running a computer repair shop there, occupying a front-row seat to the freehold strata-titled development’s change through time.
