“Retail Woes: Singapore Stores Report Significant Slump During Taylor Swift’s Visit—What’s Behind It?”

“Swiftonomics” (the term for the economic impact that Taylor Swift brings to each city with The Eras Tour) swept through Singapore after the American pop star performed six sold-out shows there. However, for small businesses, these benefits are not shared equally. Singapore’s TODAY newspaper had an article reflecting on the situation of businesses in the country during the week of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.

While many people have benefited from Taylor Swift’s presence – including hotels and retailers selling famous clothing and accessories – there are also some who have felt the decline in business. weekdays, especially for hotels located around the National Stadium where the concert is being held.

“Swiftonomics” (the term for the economic effect Taylor Swift brought to each city with her The Eras Tour) swept through Singapore after the American pop star performed six sold-out shows there. However, for small businesses, these benefits are not shared equally. Singapore’s TODAY newspaper had an article reflecting on the situation of businesses in the country during the week of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.

While many people have benefited from Taylor Swift’s presence – among them hotels and retailers selling famous clothing and accessories, there are also some who have felt the decline in business weekdays, especially for hotels located around the National Stadium where the concert is being held.

Taylor Swift’s “miracle” is not enjoyed by everyone.

Minister for Communities, Culture and Youth Edwin Tong said in Singapore’s Parliament on Monday (March 4) that Taylor Swift’s concerts are expected to bring economic benefits greater than the scale of her finances. support for her promoters. It is known that Singapore spent about 18 million USD to keep Taylor Swift performing exclusively in Southeast Asia. After the concert, the estimated profit that Singapore earned is about 300 – 500 million USD, a not small number. However, not all businesses benefit from hundreds of thousands of audiences pouring in like this.

Economists have estimated big profits for hospitality-related businesses such as airline companies, hotel chains and retail stores. This is understandable. However, when TODAY surveyed 15 food and beverage businesses, the results were different

Based on the 15 businesses TODAY spoke with, from food and beverage companies to healthcare businesses, the results were mixed, a fair reflection of Taylor Swift’s audience.

Employees at a seafood restaurant and a dimsum restaurant at the Kallang Wave Mall area right next to the stadium said their business activities dropped sharply by up to 80%. An employee at the dim sum restaurant told TODAY on the evening of March 8 (the fifth night of The Eras Tour) that many regular customers canceled their reservations when they heard about The Eras Tour, because they anticipated it would There are a lot of people and parking is difficult. “If we hadn’t warned them about the concert, some customers would have been angry at having to wait an hour to drive in and find parking, and those who knew about the concert would have said they would come later. another time” – the dimsum store employee said.

The seafood restaurant was almost empty in the Kallang Wave Mall area on the evening of March 8.

At the same time, she said most of the people who came to see the concert were young people and could not afford to dine at a seafood restaurant before or after the concert. She added that while the restaurant can fill about 10 tables when there are no events, on nights where Taylor Swift performs, business plummets to an average of just two tables per night. Such slow business is the worst the restaurant has experienced post-pandemic.

The dim sum restaurant employee added: “This is unlike the Jacky Cheung concerts held last year, where the attendees were older and had more spending power, we I witnessed strong growth in business at that time.”

However, hawker centers (specially popular food courts in Singapore) have seen an explosion of customers. Food stalls at My Kampung food court in Kallang Wave Mall witnessed unprecedented sales growth. One Malaysian street food stall owner said sales had increased “significantly more” than when Coldplay was in the city. A Japanese fusion food stall next door also said business doubled on the nights Taylor Swift performed. “When the event is attended by older people, revenue will not increase much. For example, when Jacky Cheung came, business did not increase at all,” said the stall owner.

Affordable dining areas again witnessed crowds of audiences.

When Taylor Swift’s concert arrived, the pubs and bars around the National Stadium were extremely excited and expected more crowds after the concert, leading to a surge in sales from The audience is thirsty after 3 and a half hours of concert. But it turns out the three bars at Kallang Wave Mall are doing slower business than they expected.

Mr. Andy Han, owner of Bar Soccer, said: “Maybe after a 4-hour concert, people feel tired and want to go home/ And the concert attendees are younger women, Football bars are not places they want to go.”

He added that other concerts like Coldplay’s have a higher average age of the audience and relatively more male attendance, which means his establishment’s business will better. While the week Coldplay performed here in January saw sales quadruple, Taylor Swift’s concerts only helped the bar double.

Good Cheer karaoke bar at Stadium, which saw the number of visitors decrease by about 40 to 50%. One employee said bar-goers didn’t want to deal with large crowds and a lack of parking so they instead went to other bars further away from the area. “Good Cheer is a darts bar so it’s probably not the right target audience,” he added.

Contrary to the gloom of many businesses next to the stadium, this is a booming time for businesses selling clothes and handicrafts for Taylor Swift fans, they continuously have impressive sales during Taylor Swift’s stay. to act.

In Bugis Street, several shops selling sequined outfits often worn by Taylor Swift concertgoers have seen increased sales, even though their businesses traditionally cater to older audiences. One such store is Ross Boutique, which often sells such outfits to older groups for dinners, dances or other social events, which young people are not usually interested in.

Stores selling sequins saw strong sales growth.

However, an influx of young locals and foreigners over the past two weeks has boosted business by 30%. This is understandable because the sequined shirts coincidentally coincided with the outfits that Taylor Swift wore for The Eras Tour – so from being an outfit only for middle-aged people, these sequined outfits naturally became a fashion item. “hot hit” items.

As for jewelry and accessories store Koi Ming Enterprise in Chinatown, its owners are also keeping up with 30% business growth. But now that the concerts are over, business growth is starting to taper off, said co-owner Alan Chin, who is in his 40s. But he remains grateful for the temporary boost in business that he said is the biggest he has experienced in decades. Mr. Chin said he started playing Taylor Swift songs as background music in his store, even though he had never been a Taylor Swift fan before.

But overall, Taylor Swift has had an impressive impact on Singapore’s economy in just one week.