They hope some discretion can be exercised, although they understand the reasons for the enforcement of rules like the one forbidding goods or racks to be left along the shopfront after the shutters go down at night.
At confectionery Danroll Cake at Block 681, Hougang Avenue 8, owner Siow Tiong Keng is 'suffering mental distress' over where he will store his stock of bread.
He spent more than $10,000 on three stainless steel display cabinets along his shopfront just last year: 'There's no space in my shop to store them at night, and they are so heavy. How am I to move them in and out all the time?'
A few shops away is Heerav Trading, where shop assistant Vijaya Letchmi said her boss plans to reconfigure the shop space to make room for four refrigerators to be moved in every night. She reckons she will spend more than the 30 minutes she now takes to close the shop.
Besides leaving shopfronts clear at night, the town council is also laying down rules about how wares can be displayed. There must be at least a 1m break between rows of goods to create fire escape routes.
For Mr Siow, this whittles down the display space for his cakes and breads - an important enticement for shoppers to stop, smell and buy.
A third rule, which bans shop owners from subletting their display areas to others, may spell the end for tenants like Mr Tan, 55, who declined to give his full name. He has been stationed outside a traditional Chinese medicine shop for three years, selling stickers, toys and other knick-knacks.
He said: 'I am just taking it one day at a time. If I could afford my own shop, I wouldn't be here now. If I can't stay, I will just have to pick up cardboard or find a job as a coffee-shop assistant. But who will hire me at my age?'
TEH JOO LIN
Changes from Oct 1
SOME measures Aljunied Town Council will implement from Oct 1 require shopfronts used for outdoor display of goods to:
In addition, shop owners can use their shopfront only for display of their own goods. They cannot sublet the space.