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FOOD and beverage (F&B) operators in Singapore are feeling the heat, with increasing competition forcing many out of business in a “very Darwinian retail environment”, said consultancy Knight Frank in its latest retail report. In the first nine months of 2024, 2,465 F&B businesses ceased operations, with an average of 274 closures per month, it added.   This represents an increase of 19.7 per cent over the whole of 2023, which saw an average of 229 F&B business closures per month.   Several F&B outlets have closed in the past three months, including Uni Gallery in Beach Road, Ms Maria & Mr Singh in Craig Road and Bam! Restaurant in Tras Street. “What is more worrying is the trend that F&B cessations have increased to an average of over 200 per monthly last year and in the nine months of the current year, while in the pandemic year of 2020, the average monthly F&B closures was 170 when movement restrictions crippled dining out,” said Ethan Hsu, Knight Frank’s head of retail.  “Many home-grown F&B operators are forced to innovate or consolidate in order to keep business operations at sustainable levels.”  et an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.       In the past few months, many new Chinese F&B brands have entered Singapore. They include Chamoon Hot Pot and Bingxue, a famous ice cream and tea chain. Chinese beverage brand Chagee also returned to Singapore in August after leaving in January this year.  Retail sales levelling off Amid the increasing competition in the F&B sector, overall retail sales are showing signs of levelling off. Tourism expenditure per capita in Singapore might be declining despite rising visitor arrivals, Knight Frank said.      Total retail sales (excluding motor vehicles) increased slightly from S$3.3 billion in June to S$3.4 billion and S$3.5 billion in July and August, Knight Frank said.  There were 12.6 million visitor arrivals in the first nine months of 2024, with the numbers peaking in July and August so far. Chinese visitor arrivals in July and August were the highest on record for the respective months. Almost 412,950 Chinese tourists visited Singapore in July and close to 403,140 Chinese visitors were recorded in August, outpacing the previous highs in 2019.  Yet the improving visitor and Chinese arrivals were not able to overcome the prevailing challenges of high operating costs in the retail environment, Knight Frank said. “Although visitor arrivals progressively normalised to pre-pandemic numbers with Singapore being attractive to middle class and high-net-worth visitors from South-east Asia and beyond, not all is well in the retail space,” it added.  Rental growth easing “Rental growth has started to ease and flatline as the high-cost environment takes its toll on many retailers and eateries,” the consultancy said.  In Q3, average gross rent of prime retail spaces islandwide was relatively unchanged from the previous quarter at S$27.40 per square foot per month (psf pm), with a marginal 0.1 per cent quarterly gain. However, retail rents are still up 2.7 per cent year on year.  Prime retail rents in the City Fringe micromarket rose the most, increasing by 0.4 per cent to S$23.80 psf pm. Orchard Road rents inched up by 0.2 per cent to S$30.70 psf pm. Meanwhile, rents in the suburban micromarket contracted by 0.5 per cent on a quarterly basis to S$26.40 psf pm.  Knight Frank expects prime retail rents to end 2024 with between 2 and 4 per cent growth. 

SINGAPORE - A teacher has been fired from a My First Skool pre-school centre in Tampines following a report of alleged inappropriate child management. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) received a report from the pre-school on Sept 26, and told The Straits Times it is separately looking into feedback from two other parents at the same centre. The centre removed the teacher from care and teaching duties on Sept 24, and her employment was terminated on Sept 27. The exact school location and the parents cannot be named, as it could lead to the identification of the affected child, which is not allowed under the Children and Young Persons Act. The police have confirmed that investigations are ongoing. A spokeswoman for NTUC First Campus, which manages My First Skool, said that the teacher’s approach to managing children was “not aligned with its teaching and care standards”.   In response to queries from ST, she said the centre received feedback from a parent about a teacher on Sept 21, and the teacher was assigned non-teaching duties during the investigation.     NTUC First Campus is fully cooperating with the authorities in ongoing investigations, she added. The mother of the child involved in the incident told ST a teacher had said her two-year-old son had a fall on Sept 16 which caused a mark on his face. In the following days, she and her husband noticed other marks on their son’s back, as well as a big change in behaviour. He started sleeping less at night, and would wail and repeat the words “don’t want” when he saw his school uniform, the mother said.   She reported it to the centre and asked to view CCTV footage of the fall, but was denied access. The principal of the centre viewed the footage and told the boy’s father that there was no fall and that he got the marks after a teacher was seen “cradling and rocking him vigorously”. The boy’s parents lodged a police report on Sept 26, and requested an immediate withdrawal from the centre the next day. “For two weeks since the incident, both my husband and I did not sleep well,” the mother said. She said she began to wonder about past incidents where her son came back with other marks, like a scratch under his eye and swollen bumps on his head. In August, her son came back from school with his lip bleeding. Not being able to view any CCTV footage worsened their anxiety. “When we asked for the footage from the incident, we only intended to know how bad the ‘mishandling’ of our son was. If it was something we can accept, we could have let it slide. But the way the principal addressed our concerns didn’t put our hearts at ease,” the mother said.   ECDA’s guidelines say that parents’ access to CCTV footage will be granted only for the “purposes of providing an objective reference point to clarify feedback or to assist the investigation of serious incidents within the pre-school premises”. The agency’s Code of Practice for Early Childhood Development Centres states that CCTV cameras must be able to record and store at least 30 days of footage. The mother said she hopes that ECDA would require pre-schools to store more than one month’s worth of footage. “This is children we are talking about. They are young and, like my son, have yet to be able to speak for themselves,” she said. “Our hearts will not rest until investigations are concluded and we hear the verdict. We will see this through until the end.” The spokeswoman for NTUC First Campus said: “We take all matters concerning staff conduct very seriously, and are committed to maintaining a fair and transparent process while ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to address the issues in line with our policies and procedures. “The safety and well-being of our children remain our top priority, and all concerns regarding their care are important to us.”