News Extract: 15 June 2013

JEM attracts more than 10,000 shoppers within first hour of opening

The much-awaited opening of suburban mall JEM took place on Saturday morning and attracted more than 10,000 shoppers within an hour of its opening.

SINGAPORE: The much-awaited opening of suburban mall JEM took place on Saturday morning and attracted more than 10,000 shoppers within an hour of its opening.

However, not all shops were shipshape, with some, including retailer Topshop and restaurant Ding Tai Fung, closing in the afternoon due to water leakages, according to their staff.

Plastic bags were seen placed over store mannequins and towels on the floor inside Topshop, barely hours after its opening in the morning.

A sales assistant there also told Channel NewsAsia that the building's aircon was leaking.

Queues were seen snaking outside the mall with some shoppers showing up as early as 5.30am.

The suburban mall finally opened its doors after delaying its opening on June 11 due to the lack of fire permits.

The delay did not discourage shoppers who came from all over the island to throng the 818,000 square feet mall.

One thousand early-bird shoppers also received S$10 vouchers which were quickly put to good use inside the 241-store mall.

Shoppers can also look forward to shops like bookstore Kinokuniya which opened its first branch here in 14 years.

The mall did not open as scheduled early this week after the Singapore Civil Defence Force said it did not receive safety applications for some of the 241 units.

Fire safety certificates are necessary for commercial premises and their units to operate. 


Source: Channel NewsAsia