Look at Who Just Came to the Neighbourhood

The main shopping area in my neighbourhood has a ridiculously high turnover rate. Its changes, besides bookmarking my years of growing up here, also tell the story of consumerism in Singapore: the rise of the BreadTalks and Bee Cheng Hiangs; the uncertain fortunes of niche eateries; the ongoing three-cornered fight between markets, coffeshops and food courts and the near-annihilation of Bubble Tea. I've been meaning to record the comings and goings of its tenants for posterity, and this is my first belated attempt.



Yesterday, this QB House outlet opened, taking over a unit vacated by Old Chang Kee. The ticketed 10-minute haircut concept has been around for some time now, but it's seen an explosion only in the last few months with QB House and its copycat rival EC House opening branches all over the island. Their assembly-line efficiency and affordable trendiness is a winning formula that will surely eclipse barbers the way barbers themselves eclipsed their roadside counterparts a generation ago.

This, to me, isn't just the changing face of culture; it's also the changing face of business which, with its current emphasis on value creation and competitiveness, takes no prisoners.

There is great pathos in the account my father gave me of the Malay barber in the adjoining shopping centre stopping people on the day of QB House's opening with amateurish flyers proclaiming "Barber in Town".



And hello, what's this? A sex shop in my neighbourhood?? I'm really, really amused. I've never seen such a store in any heartland mall in Singapore...in fact, the only other sex shop I know of is the one at Bugis Village. I wonder if the proprietor sees a market here. I also wonder if he sells porn.