White Sands Shopping Mall, Singapore Explained

White Sands
Location:Pasir Ris, Singapore
Coordinates:1.3725°N 103.9497°W
Address:1 Pasir Ris Central Street 3, Singapore 518457
Opening Date: (soft opening)
(official opening)
Manager:Frasers Property Retail
Owner:ARMF (WhiteSands) Pte. Ltd.
Number Of Stores:125
Number Of Anchors:6
Floor Area:148447square feet
Floors:8
Parking:191 lots
Publictransit: Pasir Ris

White Sands Shopping Mall (Chinese: 白沙购物中心), also known as White Sands, is a 5-storey shopping mall with retail outlets at the basement and two additional floors of basement carparks. It is located near Pasir Ris MRT station and Pasir Ris Bus Interchange.

The mall is a gathering spot for conscripted soldiers due to the mall's close proximity to Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, the location at which they are dropped off from the army camp on Pulau Tekong.[1] [2]

History

White Sands was developed by OCBC Properties Pte Ltd and was the first major mall to be opened in Pasir Ris in December 1996. Like a typical suburban mall at the time, it had an Eng Wah cinema, Singapore's first Timezone arcade (the largest arcade in Singapore as of that point), a food court, a John Little department store, a Courts store, a Popular bookstore, a post office, a NTUC FairPrice supermarket and more than 60 specialty stores.

In 1999, due to declining patronage, the cinema and arcade were closed and were replaced by retail outlets and the Pasir Ris Public Library (which opened in October 2000) respectively. The mall was sold to ARMF Pte Ltd in 2004.

The mall did not undergo any major renovations until 2007, and its facade was repainted blue. John Little was replaced by several smaller stores,[3] and the food court was relocated to the 3rd floor, taking up the space initially occupied by Courts. Travelators were installed linking to Basement 2 and 3 carparks.

The mall went through another round of renovations in 2014 and reopened in May 2016,[4] with a new tenant mix, a new interior layout and an enhanced blue facade.[5] [6] The library was revamped,[7] the local post office was relocated to level 5, and the bookstore relocated to level 4. Currently, its main tenants are McDonald's, NTUC FairPrice, Pasir Ris Public Library and Cookhouse by Koufu.

Notes and References

  1. News: Burger King gives out 1,000 burgers to soldiers in uniform. Lin. Melissa. 27 September 2013. The Straits Times. 29 July 2018. en.
  2. News: Out of army supplies? Get them from a vending machine as part of trial. 19 February 2017. The Straits Times. 29 July 2018. en.
  3. News: John Little to close final outlet at Plaza Singapura: 174 years of history at a glance. Leow. Annabeth. 7 November 2016. The Straits Times. 29 July 2018. en.
  4. News: Mall operator banks on revamps to cope with evolving landscape. 1 May 2016. TODAYonline. 29 July 2018.
  5. News: Late-night works at Pasir Ris mall rile residents. 14 September 2015. The Straits Times. 29 July 2018. en.
  6. News: Suburban mall crawl. Kaur. Gurveen. 8 January 2016. The Straits Times. 29 July 2018. en.
  7. News: Revamped Pasir Ris Public Library opens. Tan. Jamie. 28 November 2015. Channel NewsAsia. 29 July 2018. en-US.