The red-eared Slider with a foreign body

Wooden splinter in the armpit of a red-eared Slider, Toa Payoh Vets

sinpets.com - Pet Shop Business.

Bukit Panjang Plaza or Ten Mile Junction?
Which shopping mall to open a Singapore pet shop selling puppies? Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
15 Apr 2006 .

Sustained profitability rather than low rentals should be the reason in setting up a pet shop in Singapore's shopping malls.

In 2006, Singapore has only 2 pet shops providing a full range of services (selling puppies, pet food and accessories and grooming) are located in shopping malls at Jurong Point and Bukit Panjang Plaza. At Eastpoint Mall, the pet shop is allowed to sell puppies only and will not be considered in this research report.

It is believed that the rentals for the 2 pet shops permitted to provide a full range of services are above S$10,000 per month. Is it profitable to open a shopping mall pet shop providing a full range of services?

The first step in starting a venture is always the most difficult. Toa Payoh Vets.

On April 14, 2006 (Good Friday), 9 am to 1 pomp, I did a survey of the market conditions in Bukit Panjang Plaza and Ten Mile Junction. A public holiday is a good time to do research. If there is a poor crowd of shoppers on a public holiday, it is most likely that the shopping mall tenants cannot prosper.

In summary, "making money" means that a pet shop must generate high income to have more net profits to prepare for bad times and expansion.

I believe that most of the Bukit Panjang Plaza tenants are making money. Only the supermarkets seem to be making money at the Ten Mile Junction. In conclusion, setting up a pet shop at Bukit Panjang Plaza is recommended if the operator knows how to do it.

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BUKIT PANJANG PLAZA	TEN MILE JUNCTION
1. RENOVATION IN LAST 2 YEARS. Yes.	No.
Looks new and bright. Makes you feel good and want to return again. Variety of products and services for everyone. New white-tiled bathrooms with new sinks. At toilet entrance, big drawing of a female and male to make sure people don't get lost. Singapore's bathrooms have been well known to be badly maintained. So, new and clean bathrooms are important for repeat clients. Brigth, modern looking using glass frames and cleanliness attract younger people who are more into style than substance as compared to the baby-boomer parents.	Looks rundown. Cracked floor tiles at the main entrance seen. Bathrooms dark and grey. Gives a poor impression of being dark and gloomy, compared to the various shopping malls in Singapore.
2. LANDLORD. Professional mall manager.	Supermarket owner
CapitaLand, a professional shopping mall manager listed on the Singapore Stock exchange has various shopping malls in Singapore. As it is a REIT (real estate investment trust) issuer, it is expected that it will increase rent when tenants do well.	Sheng Siong Supermarket operates the market and an air-conditioned supermarket. The air-conditioned supermarket was previously a Shop N Save Supermarket. Leases are for 1+1 year, in case, the tenant does not do well. If the tenant wants to close shop, he loses only 1 year's lease money.
3. TENANT MIX. Excellent.	Poor.
4 stories plus basement car park. Diverse services from retail outlets. All famous branded fast food and beverage (F&B) outlets and retail outlets are present. Includes Starbucks, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Delifrance, Jack's Place, NTUC supermarket, A community National Library branch, Popular Book Store, Superbowl, Kopitiam Food Court, Jean Yip hairdressing and slimming shops, jewellry shops, UOB bank, POSB ATM machines. Shoppers over 1,000 observed at 12 noon on a Good Friday in all the 4 floors. F&B joints full. At 9 am, the fully occupied ones were The Cafe Cartel and the Kaya bread toast shop. I was at the Delifrance. At noon, the EC House barbers for both sexes were busy. This is a Japanese concept of 10-minute hair cut for S$10.00. Vacuum cleaners suck up the cut hair. White coats and cutters "trained in Japanese method". This shop looks profitable.	2 stories plus multi-storied car park. Dentist, doctor for women, pre-school, tuition school closed on public holidays. A hair saloon was not busy. One Chinese restaurant and small food and beverage outlets do not attract the crowds on Good Friday. 2nd floor has big shop selling home appliances, Malay dresses, hair-dresser, video outlets. Only the supermarket was crowded. The Chinese restaurant was around 60% full. The F&B joints selling puffs, cakes and soya bean could also be found at Bukit Panjang Plaza. So, the morning crowd of young families were not present here. The main business activity were the over 30-year old adults doing their supermarket shopping. Car parking is free. So, this may explain why the supermarket was so busy compared to the NTUC supermarket at Bukit Panjang Shopping Mall at noon time. Families in Singapore are squeezed by the high cost of living in Singapore. If there is a free car parking space, they are much attracted to shop there if the competitor has similar products. Is this the same situation in Japan and all over the world? Fewer than 20 shoppers were observed at 12 noon at the retail outlets as their goods and food are common ones, easily available anywhere in Singapore.
4. OCCUPANCY - Fully leased.	Not fully leased.
Appears to be 100%. Even the central foyer was rented to Toyota Car sales company and other exhibitors to make more rental income.	At the "Information Counter" 2 days ago, I was given the Landlord's phone number to enquire about renting a shop for a pet or internet cafe. There was only 1 ground floor unit of 300-400 sq ft available for rent at S$6.00 per sq ft. 3 empty ground floor shops were "rented".
5. CONFLICT OF INTERESTS. No.	Yes
If the Landlord has a competitive business to the sub-tenants, he usually prohibit the sub-tenants from doing this business. This is a conflict of interest. The Landlord is related to a Singapore stock-exchange company. This shopping mall is part of a REIT (real estate investment trust).	The Landlord operates a food court (with coffee stall). So, my request to open an internet cafe or a pet cafe was disallowed because this business conflicted with the Landlord selling coffee at the Food Court.
6. FOOD COURT. Yes.	Yes.
Operated by Kopitiam, part of a chain of food courts with success and experience. At 12 noon, no sitting space. Food courts are important to the success of shopping malls in Singapore.	Operated by the Landlord. At 12 noon, there are vacant seats but there are patrons.
7. CAR PARKING. Must pay.	No need to pay.
Basement. Electronic payment.	Free car parking anytime of day. 3 stories and basement. This is a very attractive factor as Singaporeans are cost conscious. Car parking fees can add up during longer shopping hours.
8. BUS SERVICES FROM BUKIT PANJANG HDB & OTHER TOWNS. Yes.	No.
A bus interchange 1 minute walk away. Buses go to other towns but no bus will stop outside Ten Mile Junction from this interchange. So Bukit Panjang HDB residents have to take the LRT or walk 10-20 minutes to Ten Mile Junction if they want to go there. Unfortunately, the LRT service is every 20 minutes, not frequent.	No. No direct bus service from nearby Bukit Panjang HDB estate, which is the significant source of customers. Bus stop outside main Woodlands Road only.
9. LRT (Light Rail Transit) connecting to Ten Mile Junction to Bukit Panjang and Chua Chu Kang HDB estates. Yes.	Yes.
At 12 noon, the LRT trains are not full. Most shoppers appear to come by car as the car park is full. I estimate that the car park lots are over 400?	LRT appears to bring mainly shoppers to the Sheng Siong supermarkets. Many shoppers come by car.
9.1 LRT at only 20-minute intervals between Bukit Panjang Plaza and Ten Mile Junction. Inconvenient for Bukit Panjang Plaza shoppers to go to Ten Mile Junction as the latter has no outstanding services or products not found in the bright shops of Bukit Panjang Plaza. The bus interchange is so near and brings shoppers from other parts of town.	LRT at only 20-minute intervals between Bukit Panjang Plaza and Ten Mile Junction. No choice but to wait. Singaporeans hate to wait. So, unlikely to go to Ten Mile Junction.
10. CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND. Yes. Colourful and has soft landing padded ground area. More than 100 less than 10-year old children were having a good time sliding down the slides during my breakfast observation from Delifrance from 9 am - 10 am.	No. The F&B joints on the ground floor did not attract the young families or morning crowds for breakfast on Good Friday.
11. SUPERMARKET at 12 noon crowded? No. The NTUC counter girls were quite relaxed at this time in this dry supermarket. A supermarket is important in a shopping mall as a crowd puller.	Yes. The wet and dry supermarkets were busy with shoppers. A supermarket attracts families. With both a dry and a wet supermarket, there were 2 choices to cater to different categories of shoppers. Could prices be lower in this supermarket?
12. F&B & RETAIL OUTLETS surviving? Making money likely.	Surviving. I asked a young man at Buzz, a franchisee selling newspapers and magazines and a proprietor selling Malay clothes. Business for most sub-tenants are "surviving" (making enough to pay for rentals and overheads). The man at Buzz told me that there is no direct bus service from Bukit Panjang HDB estates. This affected business.
13. SHOULD YOU SET UP A PET SHOP HERE? Yes.	No.
High human traffic due to excellent tenant mix. This factor is very important to the sustained profitability of a business. Bound to have customers. More customers to buy pets and pet food and accessories and come for grooming when the people traffic is high. Whether the business will become profitable or not, there must be high human traffic in the first place to get the customer at the door.	Human traffic is poor on Good Friday and presumed to be the same for weekends. Rentals may be lower. and having not much business. Just surviving is not good enough. Puppies grow up fast and become hard to sell.
14. SUMMARY. The ambience (newness, bright lights, glass walls), the pro-family ideas, wide walkways between shops, excellent tenant mix, safety features like handrails and no-slip floors for seniors attract so many shoppers, making Bukit Panjang Plaza unbeatable compared to Ten Mile Junction. It is worth paying the over $10,000 rental for a pet shop, but the operator must knows how to provide a full range of services and attract a loyal clientele base while minimising costs of overhead.	To me, the only business making money is the wet and dry supermarkets based on my Good Friday observation and interviews with some sub-tenants. The other subtenants were "surviving" or making ends meet. Empty shops on a public holiday (the pre-school, tuition shops, doctor and dentists closed, 4 empty ground floor shops ) cannot be permitted by any Landlord of successful malls as this decrease human traffic. In Bukit Panjang Plaza, the only shop closed was the Bukit Panjang Community Library! This did not affect the human traffic crowd. Free car parking seems to benefit mainly the Landlord during my Good Friday survey. As the tenant mix is poor and there are closed shops, the crowd pulling factor of Ten Mile Junction is very poor.
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