It’s been more than a month since Newton Food Centre reopened after three months of upgrading works, and it seems like the regular crowds are nowhere to be found. Could this be due to the price hike by several stalls, despite no increase in the hawker rents? Or are people still unaware of the reopening?
From Feb 1 to April 24, the 83-stall food centre was closed for maintenance renovations, opening with better facilities like new toilets and spacious aisles. According to The Straits Times, while some stall owners have lamented the loss of regular customers, others claim business has more or less gone back to normal.
For Nanyang Delight, which hawks local dishes like chicken rice, orders have dropped from 100 people a day to about 80 to 90. For Sin Sin BBQ, the number has decreased from 150 to below 100; and for Jianfa Seafood, sales have shrunk by almost 50 percent compared to last year.
Perhaps they just need to draw more tourists in — after all, even with the price increase, there’s no way they can beat atas food courts (ahem, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands) when it comes to daylight robbery.
