\n<\/p>\n
Three other businesses along the same stretch have closed since June, he said. New customers have been hard to attract because the shop is no longer visible from the main road, with regular customers assuming it had shut along with the rest of the street.<\/p>\n
“They assume that the buildings here are all torn down and we are no longer around,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Lin said the shop had put up physical advertisements on the hoarding boards, but these were taken down. With rent having risen twice since 2021 and the lease up for renewal at the end of this year, Mr Lin said it is “not looking good”.<\/p>\n
“We are definitely worried, and we are hoping that the government will step in to assist us in some way or another,” Mr Lin said.<\/p>\n
Other businesses at Novena Regency, a mixed development, are facing similar struggles.<\/p>\n
Ms Lim Shi Shi, owner of Mexican eatery El Cocinero, said business has fallen by 60 per cent since construction began, with tenants around her changing hands or leaving vacant units.<\/p>\n
“You can see empty spaces, or they have been changing owners on and off. I don’t think it’s possible to do F&B here at the moment,” she said, adding that the area now lacks prominent signage to draw customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Lim, whose business has been around for seven years, had already been considering not renewing her lease. News of the extension reinforced that decision.<\/p>\n
“I already wanted to leave the place because it’s not doing well. So I don’t want to fight this war anymore. But now that you say it’s extending another two more years, you’re giving me an assurance that I should not continue,\u201d she said.
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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