Brands or bargains! Next things to do in Nex Shopping Mall, Singapore: Food, luxury lipstick, bargain brollies and masks, bargains for the house

 We started by meeting in Food Republic.

Food Republic

Food republic has chicken rice and tofu. Last time I had chicken which was boiled. This time I chose roast chicken, which was dry. A mistake. The tofu seemed dry and overcooked as well.

Look up and you will see the hanging plants. I liked the quotation:

Flowers Feed the soul.

The back wall is glass looking out on the path outside and the grass, with buildings beyond.

Food Junction

Upstairs is another food court, Food Junction. One area has windows from up high looking down.

This is where we will meet with our toastmasters International club, Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club committee for tea and chat. 

I must admit I liked the idea of macaroons at ten dollars. And a juice bar.

After lunch we went shopping. 

Masks

I saw red paper concertina disposable masks. But I wanted fabric reusable washable masks.

I looked at masks. One mask for about two and a half (or three or three fifty). Five masks for ten dollars, which is two dollars each or one extra mask free. I chose fabric masks with tiny imitation crystals, in black and red and wine.  Another mask with small rainbow coloured stripes of sequins for an evening.

We wanted a tape measure or ruler cheaply and went upstairs to bargain store Value. My friend likes to buy cleaning materials. But I was more interested in novelties. I saw socklets in various colours.

Then umbrellas. 

Lipsticks in Sephora 

My friend had bought me a beautiful lipstick for my birthday. An elegant case. Brand Givenchy. From the shop Sephora, upstairs in Nex shopping mall.

The assistant had known it was for somebody else, for a gift, and a birthday, so she gave a coloured mesh bag. I was really pleased.

Since I had already had a purchase from there, I simply photographed the outside of the shop so I could find it again, and we hurried on looking for clothes and accessories.

Socklets

Socklets at around two dollars seemed handy for when my toe nail vanish is getting chipped. Or my strappy shoes are catching on a toe.

Umbrellas

I bought two umbrellas, green and patterned green. Another option was pink.

Useful Websites (alphabetically)

Givenchy

https://www.givenchy.com/

Japan Home

https://japanhome.com.sg/

Nex

https://www.nex.com.sg/Directory/Shop

Food Junction

Food Republic, Basement 2 (same level as the Serangoon bus interchange -  in the UK we would say bus station)

(Cold Storage supermarket is the same level) and Selfix DIY

Basement 1 has a Jollibee (Philippine), and Five Guys and Selfix DIY

Level 1 has Isetan, H & M, Bata, Cotton on, Uniqlo 

Level 2 Courts, Watsons, Giordano

Level 3 Fairprice Xtra, Pizza Hut

Level 4 Food Junction, K Shoes, Japan Home, Valu$, Popular, Shaw Theatre

Level 4R has the public library

https://www.nex.com.sg/NexRewards

Sephora

https://www.facebook.com/sephorasingapore

Valu$ (also written as ValuDollar)

https://www.radhaexports.com/

Many more locations including Clementi, Bukit Panjang Plaza, Changi City Point basement by the MRT exit, and many more.

 

SINGAPORE MALLS, from Ion in the Centre to Bukit Panjang in the suburbs

 Let me compare Plaza Singapura to a few other malls. 

AIRPORT & NEARBY

CHANGI CITY POINT adjoining the MRT, one train stop from Changi airport contains

BATA shoes

CLARKS shoes

DAISO Japanese bargain store

MARKS (small, mainly food)

VALU DOLLAR (opposite Daiso) has suitcases on wheels, lots of chocolates and cleaning materials, small stationery

CENTRAL

ORCHARD ROAD

ION Mall

Positives

ION is one of the most central. Great number of stores. Access from MRT Orchard (south side exit). Good when it rains.

Neutral or negative

But a claustrophobic maze. I would hate to try to get out in a fire. I always get lost.

Contains a DAISO.

SINGAPURA PLAZA

Contains Daiso, Spotlight, Best, Starbucks

SUBURBAN

BUKIT PANJANG

Bukit Panjang Plaza, (Bukit Panjang MRT)

Fairprice supermarket

Small Japan Home

Hillion Mall, (Bukit Panjang MRT)

Misses the anchor and opportunity of a department store. I remember when it was being built and you went from tiny corner shop to another and wondered when a proper shop would open.

Other Malls, listed alphabetically

Bedok Mall

Clementi Mall

Hougang

IMM

Jurong Point

Nex

Paya Lebar

Tampines Mall

Toa Payoh

United Square

West Mall

Westgate

White Sands

Vivo City

Malls By Area

Central

ION

North

Central

WEBSITES

https://www.capitaland.com/sg/malls/bukitpanjangplaza/en.html

https://www.fairprice.com.sg/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTUC_FairPrice

https://www.capitastar.com/sg/en/about-us.html

https://www.popular.com.sg/store-locator

Hillion

Misses the anchor and opportunity of a department store. I remember when it was being built and you went from tiny corner shop to another and wondered when a proper shop would open.

http://www.hillionmall.com.sg/store-listing/

ION Orchard

https://www.ionorchard.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ION_Orchard

About the Author

About Angela The Author

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President.

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

The recent meeting of BHA included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . Also an educational on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, (subject to revision)

1 (Saturday, May 15th, was 2 pm Singapore time, postponed because of national speaking contest.) 

After Vesak day and Hari Raya: 

Postponed to Saturday May 29th, 2021, at 2pm. Login to bha.learncool.sg earlier.

2 Next June meetings 1st Wednesday evening June 2nd at 7 pm Singapore time. 

3 Third Saturday afternoon, June 19th, Singapore time.  Thanks to the old team and Inauguration of New Team. 

Special speech with slides about teamwork in sport and Toastmasters International and life, by the President of West Coast Toastmasters Club who often help BHA with workshops and invite us to give speeches at their club.

Inauguration of new committee by incoming Area Director of S

About Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs on speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

What You Can Do With The Folding Travel Hat Neck Protector From Japan Home

I just noticed an additional feature of the folding travel hat from Japan Home. The paper thin neck protector can be detached. It is a stretchy fabric attached with plastic-looking press-studs.

When Do You Need A Neck Protector

When would you want the neck protector? To keep off the sun. To keep away insects. To make the hat more secure so that it doesn't blow off in a gust of wind. To make sure it won't fall off when you look down at your bag on the ground or over a balcony.

When To Remove A Neck Protector

Why might you want to remove the neck protector? To show your hair in a photo. To divide it and squeeze it into two pockets either side of a jacket in order to zip up both pockets and not look lopsided.

To look more elegant and approachable when eating lunch. To be less conspicuous in a market or public place.

Because the sun has gone in. Because you only want the baseball hat part around town and you are not going trekking and the neck part is never needed, an amusement but not currently needed.

The shop had branches in Marina Square and Northpoint in Singapore. Most items are an affordable two Singapore dollars. They stock goods from Japan and Korea.

Website: 

www.nomijapan.com

What is Japanese in Singapore? Isetan, Daiso, Japan Home and Sushi

In London UK we have a Japan week but in Singapore Japanese goods are all around all year.

Isetan
Branches of the big store, Isetan, are right in the centre, diagonally across from Orchard MRT station and ION, also in Nex shopping mall linked to Serangoon MRT railway station on the circle line.

Big branches of Daiso, one branch in ION, offer everything at two dollars. You could spend ages in there.

But a smaller store, Japan Home, just a little corner shop, is all over Singapore, forty five or sixty five branches, what does it matter, the important thing to note is that the shops are everywhere. If you want to check for your nearest, look on their website. You are likely to just stumble across them.

They pack a lot into a small space. Racks piled high and close together, scarcely room for two people to pass each other..

I bought a folding pink hat, never seen anything like it elsewhere. A shame it was available only in the pink as I also have orange and red clothes and I think a man would also find it useful.

As I walked around I heard a recorded announcement in English and either Chinese or Japanese about their current offer, which was two items for eleven Singapore dollars. When I went to pay I asked the shop assistant about the special offer.

She spoke both English to me and another language to another customer. She showed me the items being promoted which were at the front of the shop. She seemed unsure about the special offer.. She thought it applied to just one or two items. Basically, an item selling for 8 or 9 dollars was 11 dollars for two.

The sign was in front of the the item being promoted which was a cute neck pillow with a cover which turned it into an animal face with ears. Who would like this? Children. Maybe teenage girls who like cuddly items. (I later saw a teenage girl on the train with a teddy bear. No child in sight. From the way she was hugging it and grinning at her boyfriend, I concluded that the toy was for her and he had bought it for her and she liked cuddly soft toys.)

Hawker Centres
I could not make a decision. I needed to eat and drink. Upstairs in the mall was a food court (known locally as a hawker centre, since the time when hawkers had kiosks selling food. To clean up Singapore and make eating out safer, Lee Kwan Yew gor one of his departments to bring togther all the small outlets in one place in shopping centres, with central water and electricity, permanent counters, inspections. \\

You can buy sushi from specialised sushi shops as well as the major supermarkets (the cheapest usually being Fairprice). The Sushi shops are likely to be what the British call ground floor (in Singapore called level 1).

Sushi in Supermarkets
You also find sushi in the supermarkets are usually found in the basement, near the car parking, bus and train stations.The hawker centres are sometimes in the bargain basement but also often on the third or fourth floor at the top or two thirds of the way up so you pass the expensive jewellery, silver and gold and stainless steel. Promotion kiosks are on the ground floor or basement level(s), popular items being tee shirt and shoes, pillows and bedding sets, toys.

You might find that the sushi in supermarkets is cheaper. On the other hand, we found that the speciality shops often have more moist sushi, maybe made freshly. Supermarkets, I imagine, get deliveries twice a day (I know the Tesco Express in Hatch End in London does - when you try to park the huge delivery van is there). The speciality shops often have items sold out.

Also look for the Japanese restaurants with the snacks sailing past the tables on a huge circular conveyor belt. You find those in London, UK, and in Singapore.

Isetan Hours, Delivery and alterations
Isetan has a supermarket and a delivery service but does not deliver sushi. Their branches are at Scotts  Mall.

Japanese Food
bento (box with divided compartments for packed lunch, can refer the box, contents, or both)
suchi
sashimi


Useful websites
daisosingapore.com
Japanhome.com.sg
www.isetan.com.sg

Author

Angela Lansbury

Folding Travel Hat

Isn't this nifty, or, as the Americans say, neat. I had to buy it. It comes from Japan Home. Brimmed hats are so bulky to stow away when you are indoors and sitting down for a meal.

Where to buy bargains in Singapore

Food
Watch out for prices of food which are not what you expect. For example, spinach in January, courgettes were marked at a couple for dollars per 100g but when you get to the checkout your half dozen courgettes are costing you S $10! (£5). (S$ is Singaporean dollars, currently about two to £1, not necessarily the same as US dollars.)

Even allowing for the fact that Marketplace is an upmarket supermarket chain brand, if you opt for familiar vegetables they can be dearer than the local ones.

You can buy in the local 'wet markets' (open air stalls which are open air and used to have wet floors from rain and spillage - now kept much cleaner). However, you may need to adapt to local vegetables. In ethnic areas such as little India you will also find unwrapped vegetables at cheaper prices. The seller has lower overheads. Possibly the wobbly shapes of the vegetables are just as tasty but not looking nor fitting into the evenly shaped packaging trays.

It helps to know the local names for the vegetables if buying specific items for a recipe. However, if you just want to buy what it is available, you can simple point, and look up recipes for whatever you bought after you get home - or put small items such as bean sprouts into a large basin shape wok for a stir -fry, or chop the sold vegetables to go into a slow-cooker or casserole. (You can buy slow cookers locally at all sizes in the department stores as well as on offer in drug stores and all sorts of shops.

Looking for cheaper shops? Locals will buy in the suburbs, not in Orchard Road. For example, take the MRT to Toa Payoh.

Here are some of the cheaper stores:

NTUC FairPrice

A supermarket with small sections on stationery and home wares.

Valu stores
Tiny shops like corner shops with shelving like warehouses with floor to ceiling shelving. Crammed space between shelves, scarcely
room for one person. You have step over boxes and to back out to
let somebody through. Looking for Nutella or cleaning materials like Jif/Cif/local brands bleach or a pack of ten pens or three toothbrushes in a pack, this is the place.

Japan Home
Cheap plastic everything with pictures of princesses and Teddy bears. Loads of stuff such as toys for toddlers and for Mum there's frying pans with colourful bases. Er  - not $2 for a frying pan, it might be $20 or $30, still cheap for what it is but sorry, no good if you've only $S10-20 or $50 maximum cash, aren't carrying a credit card for fear of pickpockets.

Popular Bookstore
Huge shop like the UK's W H Smith. I found three varieties of watercolour pencils. I wanted a box files. I was shown plastic box files, half the size of the cardboard ones posting about £4 each in the UK but twice width and twice the price of the slim A$ files for S$2 in Daeso.

A Diary
At last I found a diary in Singapore's Popular stationery and book shop in Toa Payoh (end of January). Fairprice supermarket in Toa Payoh no longer stocked the diaries. In the UK you can buy diaries all year, at assorted reduced prices depending on when the diary dates are running out. For example in the huge department store size Tesco which is on one of two floors and open 24 hours (one in Watford - others in most major cities - but you might need a car to get there), diaries from January to January and also 18 month diaries and school year diaries starting September.

Daiso - spaciously laid out. Staff very helpful. Wide central aisle - looks like a cross between the UK's Marks and Spencer and British Home Stores and Homebase.

Basement market stalls:
The basement area of major malls will be filled with stalls selling tote bags, pillows and sheets and curtains sets. Some are stalls from the building's major retailers. You buy from the stall seller, then are escorted by her/him to the cashier who acts for the whole area and can take credit cards.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.