SINGAPORE – “Quickly come and shop. We’re not closing down. We’re here,” says Ms Anita Sam, managing director of vintage and retro furniture store Journey East at Tan Boon Liat Building.
Like many of the property’s other tenants, she has been receiving lots of messages from customers and friends about whether her shop is moving or is still open, after news that the building’s collective sale had gone through.
It was reported on July 21 that the freehold 15-storey Tan Boon Liat Building had been sold en bloc to a unit of Kingsford Group for $950 million, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions and owners’ approval.
The news came as a surprise to tenants, who told The Straits Times they had received a letter dated July 21 from their landlords – copies of which ST has seen – stating that no sale had been confirmed and that an extraordinary general meeting was needed to inform owners of the sale. The letter added that should the sale be approved, tenants would be given substantial notice.
Sam, who has been operating Journey East in the building at 315 Outram Road since 2009, is taking things in her stride. “We’ve been through it before, and with every door that closes, another one opens. There’s always a new opportunity, and the challenge for us is to make it better, or not even necessarily better, but even just a different experience.”
Furniture store Journey East’s managing director Anita Sam and general manager Terence Teh have lined up events at the shop, including a scent workshop on Aug 15.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
A number of events have been lined up at Journey East over the next few months, including an Aug 15 workshop with local artisanal scent studio A Thing Of Sense.
Audrey Low, co-founder of trading card shop Newtro Gaming Studios, which sells intellectual properties such as Pokemon, One Piece and Riftbound, has also received queries from customers and friends about whether her shop was open. She started her two-year lease at the end of April.
“There is no point in worrying, nothing is set in stone or confirmed,” said Low, who runs the business on the 14th floor with her husband Dillon Sim. “Business is as usual.”
Dillon Sim and Audrey Low, co-founders of Newtro Gaming Studios, says it is business as usual at their trading card shop on the 14th floor.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Cloudfields, an all-day brunch and casual dining restaurant which replaced Angie’s Oyster Bar at the smaller annex building by the carpark’s entrance, said the restaurant remains open with the same operating hours, menu and team.
Its brand manager, Sam Yeow, said the en bloc news came as a surprise to the team and that they had not received formal information about any change to the tenancy or operating timeline.
“We will consider the longer-term implications when more details are available,” he added.
Hazlee Suip of Rooma, which specialises in rattan and wood furniture crafted in Indonesia, said the businesses in the building are worried that people might think Tan Boon Liat Building is closed and therefore not go there anymore.
“We need to make sure people know we are still in business,” he said, adding that the various landlords of the strata-titled property may be worried about tenants not wanting to renew their leases given the reports of the collective sale.
“Some of the leases are expiring next month, so the landlords are scared. If people don’t want to renew, then the landlords won’t have rent for the next one year.”
Hazlee Suip of Rooma, which specialises in rattan and wood furniture, says the businesses in Tan Boon Liat Building are worried that people might think the building is closed and not go there anymore.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Hazlee, who has leases with four landlords, said he had just renewed for a year a lease that expired in March.
Hadi Nishaburi, who sells furniture from Europe at The Beuro, said it is hard to confirm if his business has declined since news of the en bloc sale surfaced in 2025.
“It’s not like we are a supermarket and have sales every day. In the furniture industry, it is normal for it to be absolutely silent for like a week, and then suddenly you have bursts of customers coming in,” he said.
“But we do have customers calling in asking, ‘Hey, are you still there?’ Yes, still here. Don’t worry.”
Hadi faced a similar situation when his shop Jehan Gallery, which sells hand-knotted carpets from places such as Iran and Turkey, was in Dempsey Hill.
A 2008 tender to appoint a master landlord for the nine blocks there was awarded by the Singapore Land Authority to Country City Investment in 2009 – the same year Hadi moved to Tan Boon Liat Building with a few other furniture-store neighbours, including Journey East. He had been at Dempsey for 15 years then.
Hadi Nishaburi, founder and managing director of The Beuro and director of Jehan Gallery, occupies three units in Tan Boon Liat Building.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Hadi, who started The Beuro in 2015, said he felt confused when he saw reports of the en bloc sale.
“I have three landlords. I called one of them and I said, ‘What is going on? Is this true or not?’ And they said, ‘We don’t know either. We have no idea. This is also news to us, and we don’t know how this news got out,’” he said. He occupies three units in the building, with expiry dates ranging from two to 18 months away.
He said that in his understanding, “sold” means a done deal, and added that the building has technically not been sold yet, but that there is an offer on the table which the owners have yet to agree on.
Hazlee thinks the owners are likely to accept the sale offer. “They’ve waited too long already. This thing has been ding-dong ding-dong for a few years, making all of us worried, and then now, it’s finally happened.”
The Tan Boon Liat family is the biggest majority stakeholder of the property, followed by the Sin Soon Lee Group. Together, they hold over 40 per cent ownership. The rest of the units are owned by others.
Built in 1976 and known as one of Singapore’s earliest high-rise industrial buildings, Tan Boon Liat Building was first launched for collective sale in February 2025 with a reserve price of $1.15 billion. The sale closed without a buyer, despite expressions of interest. The property was subsequently relaunched in February 2026 at a lower reserve price of $1 billion.
ST understands there was an extraordinary general meeting held on July 24. According to some tenants, there were still no updates from their landlords as at July 29.
Hazlee said it would be helpful to know how much time he has left in the building before he has to vacate, adding that he has heard rumours of a timeframe of between six months and two years. “But yeah, what to do? It’s not really in our control. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Built in 1976, Tan Boon Liat Building is known as one of Singapore’s earliest high-rise industrial buildings.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Property agents have already come knocking, handing out fliers for other spaces. But the tenants said it is too soon to look around, and that they still have leases to fulfil.
Property agents have been knocking at Tan Boon Liat Building, distributing to tenants fliers for other rental spaces.
ST PHOTO: ALYSSA WOO
Hazlee said he does not want to panic about where to move to for now, but he hopes that a group of tenants can move together. “But top of my mind, I can’t think of any place. I don’t think there’s a place that can accommodate all of us.”
Even if the sale were final, it would take a while for the tenants to fulfil their lease contracts with the landlords.
Mrs Josephine Harrison of Singapore Trading Post, which sells furniture in the colonial black-and-white style and has another outpost at Joo Chiat, said she estimates that should the sale go through, it will be “at least a year before we have to relocate”.
“So as ever, business as usual and also lots of new stores recently opened. In fact, some are opening in August – new,” she added.
