Will the concept of fashion street work in Singapore?

Shinchon Fashion Street in South Korea is a street surrounded by 3 universities, one of which is Hungik University. Undergraduate studying there would usually shop after school. Due to this, stall holders would sell items like accessories, clothing and electronic devices that attract these youth. As Korea is a country with four seasons, it is an advantage for stall holders as they have more variety of items to sell during the different in seasons like winter wear and summer wear. The stall holders are mostly young adults who will understand the needs of these university students and would make the price of the items they sell affordable with discounts that made it even more attractive for the students. We have observed that the number of stalls selling ladies items is more than the number of stalls that sell men items and we believe this is because Korean ladies are more concerned about their appearance as compared to the males.

Unlike Korea, Singapore is smaller in size as we have limited land space. Thus, this would restraint Singaporean from setting up more stalls. Since Singapore does not have 4 seasons like Korea, the variety of goods sold are lesser. In addition, Singapore usually gets their goods from other countries which cause the price of the goods to increase. Hence, all these factors may affect the sustainability of the fashion street in Singapore.

On the other hand, Singaporeans are more spend thrift. Majority of the Singaporeans would buy an item regardless of how costly it is. This would boost its economy and hence enables sustainability of the fashion street in Singapore. In addition, the presence of the fashion street would also increase the rate of employment and attract more tourists.

Moreover, due to the Korean wave, Singaporeans are following their trends and has become more fashionable. This allows the stall owners to sell more varieties of items in the street. Usually, the richer entrepreneurs in Singapore are risk-takers and would improve themselves by taking courses related to business. Hence, they would have sufficient knowledge to be successful in their businesses.

Majority of Singaporeans are not risk takers (Youth) as they do not have sufficient fund to start off their businesses. Instead of setting up stalls, they would rather start off with setting up an online blog shop which is less risky. Blog shops can also be used as a form of survey to examine the needs of the market. For example, in Far East Plaza, most of the stall holders started their businesses with the use of blog shop and the sales people are mostly foreigners. Thus, this shows that young adults in Singapore are less willing to set up their own stalls as they are afraid that their business will fail and most of them would rather spend their time on their studies.  

To enhance the number of entrepreneurs in Singapore, we can adapt some of the Korean methods of sustaining the fashion street.  For example, Singapore Management University (SMU) might be one of the suitable venues as it is very spacious. Singapore government is also encouraging Singaporeans to venture out and start up their own small business. Hence, a street can be set up within or around the SMU so that it can attract the students just like how the Korean’s concepts work. SMU is also located in the town and hence it can attract more people from town so that they could sustain their business. This would give the entrepreneurs a strong sense of security as they know that there will be business for them. Secondly, there are many underground MRT stations that have the space which are suitable for people to set up their own stalls. These MRT station is a suitable location as there is a large volume of people taking MRT (especially during peak hours.

In conclusion, Singapore will be able to work out the concept like what the Korean did for its fashion streets. Since Singapore government is trying to encourage more entrepreneurs, this would encourage more people to take up the challenge of setting up a street full of stalls surrounding the university! This will attract the students from the university to buy and at the same time people from the town. In addition, stalls can also be set up in underground MRT station to attract the crowds. With all this, we believe that Singapore would be able to work out the concept of the fashion street.

Below are some example of the Korean fashion street.

THANKS! Done by : Shirley, Crystal, Michelle, Joey, Audrina and Santhya!