SINGAPORE - After barely three years in the Singapore market, Japanese fashion brand Lowrys Farm is calling it quits.
The label's eight outlets, in prime locations such as Suntec City Mall and 313@somerset, will close down by Feb 18, a day before Chinese New Year, staff told The Straits Times.
The brand's parent company, Adastria Holdings, will also yank its other fashion label here, Global Work, which has one outlet in Westgate mall in Jurong East.
Lowrys Farm is not the only Japanese name that have come and gone. Here are five others.
1. Francfranc (2012-2014)
Lifestyle store Francfranc's 9,300 sq ft store in JCube in Jurong East closed in April 2014 after two years in Singapore. Its 20,000 sq ft flagship VivoCity store closed in June the same year. Mr Kazuyoshi Tanaka, director of Bals Singapore which manages Francfranc, said in a press statement that the management of Bals International had decided to cease all operations for its wholly-owned subsidiary here in Singapore. No reason was given.
2. Fancl (2000-2014)
In November 2013, the Japanese skincare brand announced in a press release that it would be closing its 33 stores in Singapore and Taiwan due to continued losses. It closed about four months after the announcement.
3. Daimaru (1983-2003)
The anchor tenant in Liang Court for 20 years, Daimaru closed its doors for the last time in 2003. The pullout by the Japanese supermarket came amid a turnaround in earnings, after a decade of losses. Daimaru had been scaling down its overseas businesses since 1998 to focus more on business back home.
4. Sogo (1986-2000)
Departmental store Sogo was the anchor tenant at Raffles City, occupying 119,484 sq ft of retail space on four levels. It also had outlets in Tampines and Paragon. It went into judicial management in Singapore due to problems faced by its parent company back in Japan.
5. Yaohan (1974-1998)
Departmental store Yaohan started operations in Singapore at its maiden outlet in Plaza Singapura in 1974, but was forced to close down in 1998, after running into financial debts. It had branches in Katong, Thomson Plaza, Bukit Timah and Jurong.
Sources: The Straits Times, The National Library E-Resources
