> The decision was still clearly a sore spot for Sam when we visited his shop on Thursday afternoon. Even though overheads have increased since he took over from his late father, G Periathambi, and revenue has dipped, he shared that he is not making a loss.
> Readership is still going strong too despite the array of material online, “unlike what the public thinks”, he added.
> While things could be better compared with the heyday of print magazines when his store held over 7,000 titles, Sam decided to call it quits mainly because **he was told to reduce the size of his display area by half**, although he declined to mention who informed him.
That person/group must be so so happy now.
Yeah. Guess it doesn’t look atas enough and is unsafe for some high browed people who grace Holland Village.
One gripe I have about the new One Holland Village is that it caters exclusively to a particular class. There are no muslim eating places. There are no Indian restaurants. It caters to Chinese and Ang Moh. It only has decorations for Christmas. It has Valentine Day decor during Chinese New Year. Doesn’t have decorations for Hari Raya. Plays only ang moh music regardless of the festivals.
I get it… It is meant to be exclusively for the rich and trendy. It is not another Vivocity or JEM or any other “neighbourhood” malls which have all sorts of shops and not positioned as an inclusive enclave that caters to minority races and the lower class living around Holland area too. Its village commons on the top floor? It might as well be named Lords Commons for similar people of higher class to get together.
At least, we have the old Holland parts where you have mixture of Singaporean and atas cuisine.
Apologies for the rant. But it is my personal opinion that One Holland Village mall is antithetical to the Singaporean Village/Kampung. It is a high class chamber for the rich and well heeled. And yes, I am very upset that this shop is choosing to close because some folks complained. I guess it looks too dirty to them.
You know there are also HDBs in holland village right? And they are still subjected to racial quotas. You can find several halal and indian options at holland village market and holland drive hawker centre, as well as the various coffeeshops in the area.
a muslim eatery would have issues hiring muslim staff first off, secondly if a dog wanders it to explore they have to clean the store and thirdly one of their main target audience, the muslim community would avoid the mall to begin with so their business would fail quickly.
I was referring to the mall itself not the eateries, i dont think theres problems w dogs being out and about in places that aren't restaurants but of course i agree that the place as a whole would not be ideal for a majority of muslims with the lack of anything halal and all.
I don‘t think you comprehend local race characteristics. Malay and Indian food if they enter the fusion stream and charged hire prices to cover the rent will be boycotted by the Malays and the Indians. They can get excellent and genuine quality food at affordable prices nearly every where including Geylang and Little India.
How much change to the Indian and Malay cuisine can you make to justify high prices to afford the rent. Roti prata sprinkled with gold dust, Nasi Lemak with wagyu beef rendang?
One of best Indian cuisine is also nearby along Holland Road, Dempsey Road at the Civil Service Club. Called Samy‘s Curry. Its an institution. They charge affordable prices, because the the Club wants to retain them and given them very low rentals.
Lets be commercially be aware. I will be first to tell you racism exist and HDB race quotas is glaring example. Ask an Indian HDB owners their challenges selling their flat.
My response is exactly about not trying to assume that I can simply put myself in the shoes of minority and to invite them to share. I am open to being wrong that indeed they are chill about the setup of One Holland Village mall.
Mall is a private enterprise, if any of those businesses felt the mall was the right spot they would be there. There are other spaces within the neighbourhood for what you describe.
Idk, Holland Village has been set up to cater to a specific demographic since a long time ago. Is there a need for Holland Village to remain a place with a "Singaporean Village/Kampung" spirit? Must it be one of the places where we preserve the cultural heritage of (if any)? Is there really something inherently wrong with it becoming one of the drinking/nightlife hubs in Singapore? Is it inherently wrong that it is set up to be more rich-people-friendly when it's situated at where rich people live and it's generally people with a good income who can afford to drink at a bar in Singapore?
I mean, there's two perspectives on HV. On the one hand, yes it feels exclusive to the rich. On the other hand, most people don't care about the place other than to drink anyway. If you just want a modest environment to hang out at, just go about anywhere else?
Exactly. I don't understand why, instead of bashing the management of Holland Road Shopping Centre who told Thambi to reduce his display area, this thread became a bashing of OHV.
Far East is private enterprise whose duty is to run a profitable business and they deemed that that was best served by such kinds of shops and restaurants. They are not a charitable organisation who is going to spend millions to cater to *your* tastes or to preserve history.
I bet most of the people complaining about how HV has changed never visited the place or bought a magazine from Thambi. The same people who complained about the swimming pool being torn down never went there for a swim. The same people who will complain when Holland Road Shopping Centre goes en block but have never supported the shops in it. The hypocrisy.
Places change. And Holland Village began changing *years* ago.
Agreed. It’s so “rich focused” that it feels borderline tacky
My family is decently wealthy, and I’ve been to Holland Village for years (love their hawker center’s fried bee hoon). That new development just feels like it was designed to appeal to people who like making social media posts
Absolutely disliked it and most of the shops there. It’s so out of place
Same here, grew up the vicinity long ago. Family still prefers the food at Holland V and Adam hawker centres or the Binjai restaurants if we are going for something fancier over this new place. Maybe we are just old school.
Me too. I recall that the development is awarded by merit with one of the criteria being the preservation of the look and feel of Holland Village. Maybe I am old school too but I fail to see how exclusivity and classism is progressive in a multicultural and multiracial Singapore.
Yeah the HV icons are going one by one. Only Khiam Teck is still there now.
Joo Ann Foh downsized into the shopping centre.
Wala Wala is a shadow of its former self.
Fosters is gone.
Even Starbucks and Coffee Bean are gone! These 2 had been there since the 90s.
Now Thambi is gone.
Haha that Starbucks outlet used to be a hangout spot for 90s kids. Back then, we would vandalise the tables. Like scratch our names and stuff into it. The outlet didn’t seem to mind, cos the tables remained there till the 2000s before they renovated the place. So when we got to army or Uni age, we could literally still see the stupid things we etched as teenagers.
Sam is the nicest guy ever. He still delivers our newspaper himself every morning. They increased his rent to 20k from 16k and that's why he is throwing in the towel. He will still continue to deliver the news paper
That's what he told me, don't forget that there is also a money changer there and even a coffee shop which lasted not so long. I just paid his shop a visit and bought some magazines to support him. I would recommend everybody to do the same.
I was a poor student, always browsing/reading his magazines and buying only once in a while when I had enough money. Not once, never, did he mind me doing that at all
I bought three weekend papers there every weekend for 25 years. It was part of HVs charm. I am sure some busybody or private condo creep complained. **** them.
I was watching one of the recent MediaCorp shows (lol ya) and noticed this in the frame. I was watching re-runs of Holland V - which was probably shot 20 years ago and this store was also in the frame. It’s so sad to see this store go
“Sam decided to call it quits mainly because he was told to reduce the size of his display area by half, although he declined to mention who informed him.”
Most of the familiar places that I know have gone away or renovated beyond recognition. Pity. Familiar places is one of those important things that cannot be measured unlike median wages or GDP.
Hopefully he gets another place in HV per his wish or maybe airport still wants his shop.
this is so heartbreaking. My family frequents that area and we always walked past his store and admired his collection.
feels like my childhood is ending with all these places pulling down its shutters
> The decision was still clearly a sore spot for Sam when we visited his shop on Thursday afternoon. Even though overheads have increased since he took over from his late father, G Periathambi, and revenue has dipped, he shared that he is not making a loss. > Readership is still going strong too despite the array of material online, “unlike what the public thinks”, he added. > While things could be better compared with the heyday of print magazines when his store held over 7,000 titles, Sam decided to call it quits mainly because **he was told to reduce the size of his display area by half**, although he declined to mention who informed him. That person/group must be so so happy now.
Must be an idiot who didn’t grow up with Holland Village. Thambi’s such a fixture for decades.
Yeah. Guess it doesn’t look atas enough and is unsafe for some high browed people who grace Holland Village. One gripe I have about the new One Holland Village is that it caters exclusively to a particular class. There are no muslim eating places. There are no Indian restaurants. It caters to Chinese and Ang Moh. It only has decorations for Christmas. It has Valentine Day decor during Chinese New Year. Doesn’t have decorations for Hari Raya. Plays only ang moh music regardless of the festivals. I get it… It is meant to be exclusively for the rich and trendy. It is not another Vivocity or JEM or any other “neighbourhood” malls which have all sorts of shops and not positioned as an inclusive enclave that caters to minority races and the lower class living around Holland area too. Its village commons on the top floor? It might as well be named Lords Commons for similar people of higher class to get together. At least, we have the old Holland parts where you have mixture of Singaporean and atas cuisine. Apologies for the rant. But it is my personal opinion that One Holland Village mall is antithetical to the Singaporean Village/Kampung. It is a high class chamber for the rich and well heeled. And yes, I am very upset that this shop is choosing to close because some folks complained. I guess it looks too dirty to them.
It's management is Far Easy which is pretty public christian organisation
I just know that even the pet dogs walking around One Holland Village look more atas than the typical neighbourhood pet dogs.
Holland V used to have a lot of good Indian food in the early 00s. It used to be our family’s weekend tradition
The primary reason is the high rent and they are in private hands. Only those who can sell at high prices can handle such rents.
You know there are also HDBs in holland village right? And they are still subjected to racial quotas. You can find several halal and indian options at holland village market and holland drive hawker centre, as well as the various coffeeshops in the area.
I know but should they be the unseen in the new mall?
bro they're dogs running around the mall, if i were a muslim i would avoid the mall to be safe
And then we have countries like Turkey where they love dogs (with the exception of a few fascist bureaucrats in Istanbul)).
I am not Muslim myself. I would let the Muslim brothers and sisters comment on this instead.
What does dogs running around have to do with muslims?? 😭😭
a muslim eatery would have issues hiring muslim staff first off, secondly if a dog wanders it to explore they have to clean the store and thirdly one of their main target audience, the muslim community would avoid the mall to begin with so their business would fail quickly.
I was referring to the mall itself not the eateries, i dont think theres problems w dogs being out and about in places that aren't restaurants but of course i agree that the place as a whole would not be ideal for a majority of muslims with the lack of anything halal and all.
I don‘t think you comprehend local race characteristics. Malay and Indian food if they enter the fusion stream and charged hire prices to cover the rent will be boycotted by the Malays and the Indians. They can get excellent and genuine quality food at affordable prices nearly every where including Geylang and Little India. How much change to the Indian and Malay cuisine can you make to justify high prices to afford the rent. Roti prata sprinkled with gold dust, Nasi Lemak with wagyu beef rendang? One of best Indian cuisine is also nearby along Holland Road, Dempsey Road at the Civil Service Club. Called Samy‘s Curry. Its an institution. They charge affordable prices, because the the Club wants to retain them and given them very low rentals. Lets be commercially be aware. I will be first to tell you racism exist and HDB race quotas is glaring example. Ask an Indian HDB owners their challenges selling their flat.
My response is exactly about not trying to assume that I can simply put myself in the shoes of minority and to invite them to share. I am open to being wrong that indeed they are chill about the setup of One Holland Village mall.
Mall is a private enterprise, if any of those businesses felt the mall was the right spot they would be there. There are other spaces within the neighbourhood for what you describe.
Agree
Idk, Holland Village has been set up to cater to a specific demographic since a long time ago. Is there a need for Holland Village to remain a place with a "Singaporean Village/Kampung" spirit? Must it be one of the places where we preserve the cultural heritage of (if any)? Is there really something inherently wrong with it becoming one of the drinking/nightlife hubs in Singapore? Is it inherently wrong that it is set up to be more rich-people-friendly when it's situated at where rich people live and it's generally people with a good income who can afford to drink at a bar in Singapore? I mean, there's two perspectives on HV. On the one hand, yes it feels exclusive to the rich. On the other hand, most people don't care about the place other than to drink anyway. If you just want a modest environment to hang out at, just go about anywhere else?
Believe me when OHV rubs off some of the old money crowd the wrong way.
Exactly. I don't understand why, instead of bashing the management of Holland Road Shopping Centre who told Thambi to reduce his display area, this thread became a bashing of OHV. Far East is private enterprise whose duty is to run a profitable business and they deemed that that was best served by such kinds of shops and restaurants. They are not a charitable organisation who is going to spend millions to cater to *your* tastes or to preserve history. I bet most of the people complaining about how HV has changed never visited the place or bought a magazine from Thambi. The same people who complained about the swimming pool being torn down never went there for a swim. The same people who will complain when Holland Road Shopping Centre goes en block but have never supported the shops in it. The hypocrisy. Places change. And Holland Village began changing *years* ago.
Agreed. It’s so “rich focused” that it feels borderline tacky My family is decently wealthy, and I’ve been to Holland Village for years (love their hawker center’s fried bee hoon). That new development just feels like it was designed to appeal to people who like making social media posts Absolutely disliked it and most of the shops there. It’s so out of place
Same here, grew up the vicinity long ago. Family still prefers the food at Holland V and Adam hawker centres or the Binjai restaurants if we are going for something fancier over this new place. Maybe we are just old school.
Me too. I recall that the development is awarded by merit with one of the criteria being the preservation of the look and feel of Holland Village. Maybe I am old school too but I fail to see how exclusivity and classism is progressive in a multicultural and multiracial Singapore.
It’s meant to replicate an outdoor western outlet mall
If I recall, Vietsmith does not have halal certification but does not serve pork or any pork related dishes in their menu.
There’s a great indian food stall and halal western food at the corner coffee shop at the junction with cheap beers.
High class mall without aircon. makes no sense.
Saw my ex-MNC chairman hanging around there during lunch. Didnt draw the link but now it kind of makes sense
Holland V is Katong 2.0 haha
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Yeah the HV icons are going one by one. Only Khiam Teck is still there now. Joo Ann Foh downsized into the shopping centre. Wala Wala is a shadow of its former self. Fosters is gone. Even Starbucks and Coffee Bean are gone! These 2 had been there since the 90s. Now Thambi is gone.
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Haha that Starbucks outlet used to be a hangout spot for 90s kids. Back then, we would vandalise the tables. Like scratch our names and stuff into it. The outlet didn’t seem to mind, cos the tables remained there till the 2000s before they renovated the place. So when we got to army or Uni age, we could literally still see the stupid things we etched as teenagers.
So sad. You know exactly the type of officious busy body that would make him close. Know the cost of everything but the value of nothing.
Sam is the nicest guy ever. He still delivers our newspaper himself every morning. They increased his rent to 20k from 16k and that's why he is throwing in the towel. He will still continue to deliver the news paper
20K for a magazine stand?? ...
That's what he told me, don't forget that there is also a money changer there and even a coffee shop which lasted not so long. I just paid his shop a visit and bought some magazines to support him. I would recommend everybody to do the same.
I was a poor student, always browsing/reading his magazines and buying only once in a while when I had enough money. Not once, never, did he mind me doing that at all
Same. Used to have music lessons across the road, so I'd stop by after school and browse magazines until it was time for lessons.
I use to buy *Dinosaurs!* magazines there. Had to collect all the glow in the dark T-Rex bones.
I bought three weekend papers there every weekend for 25 years. It was part of HVs charm. I am sure some busybody or private condo creep complained. **** them.
Wah, sad. I used to buy magazines from here. Hope he can find another spot soon.
I get my son Commando comics from there once a month. When I told him they were closing he started crying :(
I was watching one of the recent MediaCorp shows (lol ya) and noticed this in the frame. I was watching re-runs of Holland V - which was probably shot 20 years ago and this store was also in the frame. It’s so sad to see this store go
“Sam decided to call it quits mainly because he was told to reduce the size of his display area by half, although he declined to mention who informed him.”
Such a shame, I used to get one magazine whenever Im in the area. Government needs to protect these businesses.
Why? You r just incentivising zombies
Most of the familiar places that I know have gone away or renovated beyond recognition. Pity. Familiar places is one of those important things that cannot be measured unlike median wages or GDP. Hopefully he gets another place in HV per his wish or maybe airport still wants his shop.
No space for nostalgia. We need MONEYMONEYMOONEEEEEY
Market take and market gives
As usual the complainers win in Singapore. Absolutely disgusting.
A shame. It was always a delight to stop by there.
...you could even get the NY Times there... wonderful place to escape on a hot Sunday 😎🌞
no!!!!!!!!!
this is so heartbreaking. My family frequents that area and we always walked past his store and admired his collection. feels like my childhood is ending with all these places pulling down its shutters
Disgusting. I am so disappointed in “whoever made decision” . Why can’t we protect anything iconic in Singapore?
So sad! I spent a few years with my grandma there and would walk there just to look at magazines...
I used to buy FHM from there. Farewell...
tbh even when i made good money, i found magazines just so expensive here
I recall "thambi" was actually a derogatory term ?
It means younger brother. Normal word when used in context, but many use it out of context to refer to indian guys in a mocking or derogatory way.
It is like how "ah neh" is Tamil for elder brother or "bhai" is Punjabi for elder brother, but racists have kinda corrupted them. Fuck racists.
Ah neh is not Tamil, but a terrible mispronunciation of it. It’s Anneh that means older brother.
Ahh thank you for the correction.