10 old-school malls in Singapore to revisit for a trip down memory lane

Regardless of age, most Singaporeans would have visited an old-school mall in Singapore at least once. As their products are cheaper, old-school malls are haunts amongst students, who drop by after school, or customers looking for a good bargain.

Although not as well-maintained as their modern counterparts, the charm of old-school malls lies in their ability to provide goods and services that cannot be found elsewhere.

Here’s our list of the 10 best old-school malls in Singapore for a trip down memory lane.

1. Bras Basah Complex (1980 – present)

Chances are, most teenagers would have been to Bras Basah Complex during their schooling days to buy books or stationery. Nicknamed the “City of Books”, the centrally-situated shopping mall, completed in 1980, offered 5 floors of shops selling mostly books.

A must-visit is Basheer Graphic Books on Level 4 of the complex. The bookstore, which opened in the early 1990s, sells mainly design and architecture books and magazines.

2. Queensway Shopping Centre (1976 – present)

Established in 1976, Queensway Shopping Centre is one of Singapore’s first multi-purpose shopping complexes. It also has the country’s first public escalators. Dubbed “Singapore’s Sports Mall”, the old-school mall in Singapore sells various sports items.

Make sure to check out Sports Finesse on the second floor of the shopping centre. Sport Finesse specialises in racket sports namely tennis, squash and badminton. The sports store also carries the biggest selection of squash rackets, squash eyewear and squash strings.

The old-school mall in Singapore is recognisable from its octagonal exterior and sunken central concourse. With its trigram layout, don’t be surprised if you can’t find your way out.

3. Lucky Plaza (1981 – present)

A popular haunt among tourists and Singaporeans today, Lucky Plaza, completed in 1981, was a shopper magnet then. It defied expectations of becoming a ‘white elephant’, with it being one of the most costly and largest developments undertaken by a private developer.

BEP Akitek Pte Ltd. created the concept of an open vertical ‘bazaar’ as to its position in the middle of Orchard Road. The prime location prompted the idea of placing shops in a series of stacked galleries, interconnected by escalators and elevators, around a high open space.

Lucky Plaza houses a wide range of shops selling Filipino products, cosmetics, sports goods and electronics. There is also a food court in the basement that sells affordable local fare.

4. Katong Shopping Centre (1973 – present)

Located along Mountbatten Road, Katong Shopping Centre, which officially opened to the public in 1973, was Singapore’s first air-conditioned shopping centre. The old-school mall in Singapore was once home to a bowling centre and textile, shoe and food outlets. It now has other services such as tailoring and printing shops, as well as employment agencies.

After you are done shopping, drop by Dona Manis Cake Shop, an old-school cake shop in the basement. It sells snacks such as Chocolate Tarts (S$4.50 for 5) and Banana Pie (S$2.50/slice). Their Banana Pies possess a crumbly texture and a smooth buttery taste.

5. Far East Plaza (1982 – present)

Opened in 1982, Far East Plaza was one of the icons of youth culture till the 2000s. It housed affordable clothing outlets such as 77th Street, as well as eateries targeting the student crowd. But with the rise of the National Youth Council’s *SCAPE Singapore which was also within the same area, the number of youths visiting Far East Plaza has declined.

Falling tenant occupancy in recent years has resulted in the acceptance of more massage parlours. Several tattoo parlours and barbers have also found their way to the upper floors.

If you are looking to get a tattoo from an honest dealer, stop by the Gurkha Tattoo Family on Level 4. They offer various body piercing services at transparent prices (S$35 – S$110) and tattoos that start from S$60. You won’t get blued, screwed and tattooed.

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6. Parkway Parade (1984 – present)

Opened in 1984, Parkway Parade is a suburban shopping centre in Marine Parade. At the point of completion, Parkway Parade was one of the first major and biggest suburban shopping malls in Singapore. It was designed after American suburban shopping centres.

Major franchises, such as Isetan, Marks & Spencer, Best Denki (then Yaohan Best), children’s department store Small World and MPH Bookstore, opened outlets there.

An assortment of retail shops was introduced to keep the mall updated in 2015. Then, Best Denki was shifted to Level 3, alongside 6 rows of retail outlets. A 7-screen Cathay Cineplex opened in 2017. In 2021, FairPrice Xtra took over Giant’s spot as the mall’s anchor tenant.

7. Peninsula Plaza (1981 – present)

Completed in 1981, Peninsula Plaza, a stone throw’s away from City Hall MRT station, was the local first building to have outdoor escalators and car lifts. Boasting 38,000 square metres of commercial space, the 29-storey plaza was built at a hefty cost of $110 million.

In the early 1990s, Peninsula Plaza turned into a popular gathering place for the local Myanmar community and became known as ‘Little Myanmar’. One could find traditional clothing, Myanmar lager, and even a Burmese library in the old-school shopping centre.

Today, Burmese eateries, grocery shops, boutique shops and travel agencies call Peninsula Plaza their home. Singaporeans and tourists alike still head there to get a feel of Myanmar.

8. Thomson Plaza (1979 – present) 

Opened in 1979, Thomson Plaza is best known for having a Yaohan departmental store in the 1980s and 1990s. The trailblazer of one-stop departmental stores, Yaohan pioneered a novel customer service approach. This included dedicated service training for their workers.

Thomson Plaza is one of the first public buildings here to be designed with barrier-free features from the beginning. Apart from the standard escalators, the mall’s design also included ramps, enabling wheelchair users to move between the various floors effortlessly.

Other handicapped-friendly features include bigger toilet cubicles for wheelchair users and door levers that enable those who have trouble controlling their hands to open doors easily.

9. Fu Lu Shou Complex (1983 – present)

Fu Lu Shou Complex is a shopping centre located in Bugis, Singapore. Built in 1983, it sells mainly Daoist and Buddhist religious paraphernalia, such as lucky stones and gems.

The mall derived its name from the Daoist idea of Fu Lu Shou. The Chinese phrase means fortune (fu), prosperity (lu) and longevity (shou), signalling its specialisation to customers.

While it houses many purely commercial enterprises, the Fu Lu Shou Complex is especially notable in that it also contains functioning religious shrines incorporated into certain stores.

In their usage of the old-school shopping mall as a source of religious wares and as a religious site, the tenants and consumers blur the demarcation between mall and temple.

10. People’s Park Complex (1973 – present)

Completed in 1973, the 31-storey People’s Park Complex building was Singapore’s largest shopping complex and the first mixed-development complex of its kind locally.

Featuring Singapore’s first atrium in a shopping centre, the mixed-use complex comprises offices and apartments above a podium of retail space. Here, you can find outlets ranging from massage parlours to shops selling eyewear, jewellery, electronics and clothes/textiles.

The 6-storey shopping podium does not affect access to the 25 upper levels. The upper levels, designed to be convenient interaction spaces, have been called “streets in the air”.

Despite the passing of time, the old-school mall in Singapore remains one of the best examples of Brutalist architecture here. Exposed raw concrete was used as the original exterior finish. Its facade has since been painted over in shades of green and maroon.

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