Mr Wuysang-Oei of Metro said the higher cost of operating a business in Orchard Road dampens innovation too as no one dares to take risks. “No room for failure,” he said.
That’s in part because many malls along Orchard Road are owned by real estate investment trusts (REITs), which increase rents because they are obligated to distribute quarterly returns, he wrote in an article on LinkedIn.
“So what gets curated out of Orchard Road? Precisely the things that make a street worth visiting. The local brand with a story. The experimental concept with no proven precedent,” he wrote.
Ms Tan-Wijaya of Savills said up-and-coming brands in cities like Bangkok can afford to rent shop spaces next to major international brands, but that is not the case in Singapore.
Orchard Road is lined with malls, not street shops, so there is less room for brands to be creative and offer unique experiences, she said.
In Tokyo, Seoul and China’s first-tier cities, luxury brands try to outdo one another with bigger and more immersive, experiential flagship stores that are culturally relevant to the local market, she said.
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