Recently I was in discussion over the very expensive retail space in Singapore when it hit me on how to help the small retailers to get a leg up here.
The problem with retail space in Singapore is that its only meant for the rich. There is no place for the small and startup retailers that want to start out. To think the government is complaining that there is not enough innovation. How can you get innovative if all your money is spent on that rent?
So what is my idea? Basically its a very simple concept. We often see empty space in malls which they let out to those insurance firms, travel firms, or big stores such as metro and challenger. Why are we letting these big players take up all the space?
These places should be reserved for small players to have pop-up stores for a few days, eg Thurs to Sun. Grants could be given by the government so that the rent is kept affordable for these small retailers for that short period. How to keep the rent affordable? The easiest way is to only charge a percentage of the revenue and that's it. Base rental is covered by the grant.
That would help the smaller retailers to gain exposure and experience, and bring variety to the shopping mall too. This can also be extended to other areas that have such open spaces.
I believe we as consumers are also tired of seeing the same big names everywhere we go and sometimes, a leg-up is all the small retailers need.
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