It was the last day of school and after classes ended, Jerrett Koe Yi Yang, 13, from Anglo Chinese Secondary School (Barker Road) made his way from his school in Newton to Ang Mo Kio to get his family some butter cookies from Jenny Bakery.
The famous Hong Kong business, with stores in Tsim Sha Tsui and Sheung Wan, opened here yesterday.
He decided to make the trip after his mother told him about the opening.
"After my mum learnt from Facebook about Jenny Bakery opening an outlet in Singapore, I felt that I should go and buy the famous cookies for my family," he says.
"I can't wait to try them."
Jenny Bakery Singapore is located at 01-2534 Block 422 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.
Queues started at 9.45am yesterday, with customers streaming in even before the store's official opening time of 11am. The store opened early, at 10.30am, and the queue moved briskly.
For the opening day, Mr Lawrence Lim, 48, managing director of Jenny Bakery Singapore, brought in about two tonnes worth of the cookies and expects that there will be enough for 600 to 1,000 customers.
People can buy up to four tins each.
People stood in line patiently despite the heat and haze.
Jenny Bakery is famous for its butter and coffee cookies, almond flakes and nougat. These are packed in the store's signature tins, decorated with pictures of teddy bears.
The cookies draw long queues in Hong Kong and are so popular that a black market has sprung up, with resellers offering the cookies at high prices, or substituting the real cookies with inferior copycats.
However, the cookies cost a lot more here than they do in Hong Kong.
A large box of 4 Mix Butter Cookies, with butter, coffee, shortbread and raisin oat cookies, costs $45 here, and a small one is priced at $25.
In Hong Kong, the large tin of 4 Mix Butter Cookies costs HKD$130 (S$23.35).
The first person in the queue, Madam Cindy Aw, who was in the queue at 9.45am, did not mind paying much more to get the cookies for her family .
The 56-year-old housewife says: "I've tried the ones that my friends brought back from Hong Kong. I think the cookies are very tasty and I'm very excited to get the coffee ones."
Operations at Jenny Bakery were also smooth and many people were excited as they awaited their turn.
Mr Ben Ng, 40, a bank officer, had a day off yesterday and travelled from Woodlands to buy the cookies.
"I haven't been to the shops in Hong Kong but I've heard that the queue gets very long there," he says. "Even though they are more expensive here, I don't have to take a plane to Hong Kong to get the cookies."
Also in the queue was 30-year-old Patrick Poh, who came ready to combat the haze with an N95 mask on.
"I'm queuing so I can buy some cookies for my wife to try and if it means I have to battle the haze for it, so be it," he says.
