As anyone who grew up here would know, the country practically becomes a ghost town when the Lunar New Year rolls by. Convenience stores close; food court stalls go empty; supermarkets get shuttered for a couple of days.
Not all of them though. NTUC Fairprice announced last week that 110 of its 146 outlets will stay open for shopping on Feb 5, the first day of the holiday. With reduced staff members and operational hours of course, but NTUC Fairprice CEO assured that the stores will benefit customers who need some last-minute groceries as well as those who aren’t celebrating the holiday.
Chinese New Year will start affecting the operational hours of NTUC Fairprice supermarkets on the eve of the holiday, when 121 stores will only remain open until 5pm on Feb 4. On the first day of the holiday, only 31 will be open as usual, while 79 stores will operate until 5pm.
On the second day of Chinese New Year, all FairPrice stores will be open as usual, except for the outlet at Macpherson Mall.
Extended operating hours
Instead of shuttering some of its stores, fellow supermarket chain Giant will actually have all of its outlets operating as usual during the Chinese New Year holidays. The chain even goes above and beyond — some of its stores will have extended operating hours in the dates leading up to the holidays, with some remaining open past midnight this Sunday.
The same ethos applies to some of Prime’s supermarket outlets — its branches at Jurong West, Punggol, Woodlands, Hougang and more will actually be open 24/7 throughout the course of the Chinese New Year holidays. For Cold Storage, only a handful of its stores (Marina One, Takashimaya, One North, Havelock2) will close on the first and second day of Chinese New Year.
