A Complete Shopping Guide To Singapore

Singapore is expensive by Asian standards but cheap for visitors from most industrialized countries: $50 is a perfectly serviceable daily backpacker budget. Food in particular is a steal, with excellent hawker food available for less than $5 per generous serving. Accommodation is a little pricier, but a bed in a hostel can cost less than $20 and the most luxurious hotels on the island (except maybe the Raffles) can be yours for $200 with the right discounts.

Shopping

Shopping is second only to eating as a national pastime, which means that Singapore has an abundance of shopping malls, and low taxes and tariffs on imports coupled with huge volume mean that prices are usually very competitive. Most stores are open 7 days a week from 10 AM until 9 PM, although smaller operations (particularly those outside shopping malls) close earlier — 7 PM is common — and perhaps on Sundays as well. Keep an eye out for the Great Singapore Sale [51], usually held in June-July, when shopping centres pull out all stops to attract punters. Many stores along the shopping belt of Orchard Road and Scotts Road now offer late night shopping on the last Friday of every month with over 250 retailers staying open till midnight. Public transport operating hours will also be adjusted on these particular Fridays.

Antiques: The second floor of the Tanglin Shopping Centre on Orchard and the shops on South Bridge Rd in Chinatown are good options if looking for the real thing (or high-quality reproductions).
Books: Borders at Wheelock Place and Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City, both on Orchard, are the largest bookstores in Singapore. Many second-hand bookstores are located in Far East Plaza and Bras Basah Complex, where you may attempt to bargain if you are buying a lot.

Cameras: Peninsula Plaza near City Hall has Singapore's best selection of camera shops. Prices tend to be significantly higher than in many other countries. Also beware that a lot of camera stores in Singapore have a reputation for fleecing unwary tourists. Check out too, Sim Lim Square and Mustafa.

Computers: Sim Lim Square (near Little India) is great for the hardcore geek who really knows what he's after (and at slightly cheaper prices), and Funan IT Mall (Riverside), for lesser mortals.

Consumer Electronics: Very competitively priced in Singapore. Funan IT Mall (Orchard), Sim Lim Square and Mustafa (Little India) are good choices. Avoid the tourist-oriented shops on Orchard Road, particularly the notorious Lucky Plaza, or risk getting ripped off. For any purchases, remember that Singapore uses 240V voltage with a British-style three-pin plug.

Electronics: A wide variety of electronic components and associated tools can be found at Sim Lim Tower (opposite Sim Lim Square).

Ethnic knick-knacks: Chinatown has Singapore's heaviest concentration of glow-in-the-dark Merlion soap dispensers and ethnic gewgaws, mostly but not entirely Chinese and nearly all imported from somewhere else.
Fabrics: Arab Street and Little India have a good selection of imported and local fabrics like batik.
Fashion, high-street: Ngee Ann City (Takashimaya) and Paragon on Orchard have the heaviest concentration of branded boutiques.

Fashion, youth: Most of Bugis is dedicated to the young, hip and cost-conscious. Some spots of Orchard, notably the top floor of the Heeren, and Far East Plaza, also target the same market but prices are generally higher.
Fakes: Unlike most South-East Asian countries, pirated goods are not openly on sale and importing them to the city-state carries heavy fines. Fake goods are nevertheless not difficult to find in Little India or even in the underpasses of Orchard Road.

Food: Jason's Marketplace in the basement of Raffles City (Orchard) is perhaps Singapore's best-stocked gourmet supermarket with a vast array of imported products, but Takashimaya's basement (Orchard) has lots of small quirky shops and makes for a more interesting browse. For a more Singaporean (and much cheaper) shopping experience, seek out any neighborhood wet market, like Little India's Tekka Market.

Hi-fi stereos: The Adelphi (Riverside) has Singapore's best selection of audiophile shops.
Music: The three-story HMV in the Heeren on Orchard is Singapore's largest music store.
Scuba gear: The Concourse shopping mall in Bugis has a good selection of dive shops in the basement.
Sports goods: Queensway Shopping Centre, off Alexandra Rd and rather off the beaten track (take a cab), seems to consist of nothing but sports goods shops. You can also find foreigner-sized sporty clothing and shoes here. Do bargain! Expect to get 40-50% off the price from the shops in Orchard for the same items. Velocity in Novena is also devoted to sports goods, but is rather more upmarket.

Tea: Chinatown has plenty of tea shops, and there are some high-end stores for both Japanese and Chinese varieties in Takashimaya's basement, but Time for Tea in Lucky Plaza (Orchard) may have the best prices.
Watches: High-end watches are very competitively priced. Ngee Ann City (Orchard) has dedicated stores from the likes of Piaget and Cartier, while Millenia Walk (Riverside) features the Cortina Watch Espace retailing 30 brands from Audemars Piguet to Patek Philippe, as well as several other standalone shops.