Offices, malls, hawker centres quiet as new curbs kick in

The usual office crowd was missing in Raffles Place at 8.40am yesterday, as Singapore moved to working from home as the default. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
The usual office crowd was missing in Raffles Place at 8.40am yesterday, as Singapore moved to working from home as the default. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
The basement level of Tampines Mall saw more people at around lunchtime yesterday, as patrons took away food, although the popular heartland malls that The Straits Times visited were significantly less crowded than usual. ST PHOTO: LUQMANUL HAKIM
The basement level of Tampines Mall saw more people at around lunchtime yesterday, as patrons took away food, although the popular heartland malls that The Straits Times visited were significantly less crowded than usual. ST PHOTO: LUQMANUL HAKIM

Many office buildings and hawker centres lost their usual buzz as Singapore defaulted to working from home under tightened restrictions yesterday.

While queues of up to 15 office-goers getting takeaway food were seen at Market Street Interim Hawker Centre yesterday, another lunchtime hot spot, Lau Pa Sat in Tanjong Pagar, was almost empty.

Ms Shanas Ibrahim, 32, a sales assistant who works in Tanjong Pagar, welcomes the return of work-from-home as the default so she can spend more time with her two-year-old child.

"It is a win-win situation for me," Ms Shanas said. She has also stopped sending her elder daughter to pre-school as a precaution.

Law firm OC Queen Street has allowed all its employees to work from home by default for over a year, and is already considering downsizing the office and keeping only meeting spaces once the lease expires next year.

"We are working towards an even better work-from-home arrangement," said Mr Koh Chia Ling, 50, the law firm's managing director.

Similarly, the popular heartland malls that The Straits Times visited - Nex, AMK Hub, Compass One, Waterway Point and White Sands - were significantly less crowded than usual yesterday.

The longest queues were those of patrons taking away food, especially in basements of malls where most eateries are concentrated.

Compulsory TraceTogether-only SafeEntry check-in via the mobile app or token also kicked in yesterday. Most mall-goers had no issues checking in.

Many people were seen tapping their phones on the SafeEntry Gateway scanner, while others were using their TraceTogether app to scan the QR code.

A few people tried to use their identification cards, which they could no longer use for checking in. The mall staff instead directed them to download the TraceTogether app.

Following tighter restrictions that kicked in on Sunday prohibiting dining in at food and beverage outlets, tables and chairs were spotted neatly stacked at eateries.

Some eateries had already seen their takings fall by up to half on Sunday. The busiest eateries had only about 10 patrons waiting in line during the lunchtime rush.

"It used to be quite okay during lunch, but now that everyone is working from home, we just won't see a crowd anymore," said Ms Camille Hasagawa, 31, supervisor of AMK Hub's The Pine Garden kiosk.

Other retail stores across all the malls visited by ST barely had any customers.

Sales assistant Lim Wei Xiang said that sales had fallen by about 70 per cent to 80 per cent compared with a week ago at Mobile Fashion, a mobile accessories store at Compass One in Sengkang.

Mr Sim Wei Bin, a sales assistant at a shop selling video games at Tampines Mall, said: "Before the measures tightened, we saw up to 20 customers in the store every hour."

But on Sunday, with the new measures, its hourly footfall halved.

In addition, despite mandatory home-based learning for all schools taking effect from tomorrow to May 28, there seemed to be no last-minute dash for supplies or assessment books at bookstore chains like Popular in malls such as Compass One, Tampines Mall and Nex.

Fewer than 10 shoppers at a time were spotted inside these outlets around lunchtime when ST visited.

Housewife Intan Adzurah, who was getting lunch at Nex, said she is ready for home-based learning with her nine-year-old daughter Sayyidah Nafeesah.

"She is the only child, so I am not in a hurry (to stock up)," said Ms Intan.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health started mandatory swabbing for staff and tenants of White Sands and the Giant supermarket outlet at Block 440 Pasir Ris Drive 4 as some visitors to these places had tested positive for Covid-19 over the past two weeks.

While the mall remained open to the public, it was mostly empty.

Cashier Azimah Muhammad, 61, who works at the Value Shop in White Sands, said she went for the swab test to have peace of mind.

Ms Loo Chia Hui, 24, who works at box concept store Cube Sprout, which sells a range of products, including electronics, said that the swab test at the mall was her second one.

Replying to ST queries on the impact of the restrictions, the Singapore Retailers Association said that the Government should extend the Jobs Support Scheme to retailers.

"With this more dangerous (Covid-19) variant that is going around, the work-from-home directive as a default and schools implementing home-based learning, there is just no more traffic," said the association's executive director Rose Tong.

"Staying open doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to make money (when) there is nobody in the malls."

• Additional reporting by Jason Quah

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 18, 2021, with the headline Offices, malls, hawker centres quiet as new curbs kick in. Subscribe