Marine Parade hawker who placed record S$10,000 bid for stall says it is worth it

SINGAPORE: A hawker who submitted a bid of more than S$10,000 (US$7,600) to rent a stall in Marine Parade said the record offer was worth it. 
Ms Yang Ailan, who already runs a drink stall in the same food centre, made the second-highest bid of S$10,158 for the vacant unit in Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre.
News reports said this was the highest bid for a hawker stall in the last six years, although the National Environment Agency (NEA) has not confirmed this.
The NEA manages all 120 hawker centres in Singapore, comprising more than 14,000 stalls.
The stall at Block 84 Marine Parade Central received three other bids ranging from S$8,113 to S$9,500, according to a tender notice in July detailing the five highest bids. The highest bid of S$10,680 for the stall was withdrawn. 
Vacant stalls in hawker centres managed by the NEA, like this Marine Parade food centre, are rented out through monthly tenders.
Successful bidders will pay rent at the tendered offer for the first three years of their tenancy period. After that, the rental will be adjusted to the market rate determined by an independent professional valuation that factors in footfall, stall size and market conditions.
Rents higher than the market rate will be adjusted downwards, while those below the market rate will be increased accordingly. 
Hawker stalls may also be restricted in what they can sell. This Marine Parade stall is allowed to sell cooked food, halal cooked food, Indian cuisine, drinks or cut fruits, according to the NEA tender notice. 
The results of the tender have not been released. NEA states on the tender notice that bids are subject to its evaluation and that it could reject any bid, even if it is the highest. 
Ms Yang runs a drinks stall just four units away from the one she is setting her sights on. 
The 51-year-old Singaporean has been running the stall for more than 10 years, and hopes her son can start his own cooked food business if she gets another stall – although the family has not decided what to sell. 
When CNA visited her stall last Wednesday (Aug 14), she said the new stall was worth the S$10,000 bid. 
Everything in Marine Parade is “expensive”, from home prices to shop rentals, Ms Yang said in Mandarin.
She added that it was rare to have a vacant stall up for bidding in this hawker centre. To top it off, the location of this stall is better than another stall in the same hawker centre that was rented out for S$6,800 last September, she said. 
Footfall at the centre has also been boosted by the Jun 23 opening of Marine Parade MRT station near the hawker centre. 
“It increased the crowd by up to 20 per cent,” said Ms Yang, pointing out that the centre also gets many tourists with four hotels in the vicinity.
She did not expect her bid to be the highest.
“My son has the intention to learn. Usually, after he comes back after work, he will come to help me, like he is doing part-time work,” she said.
She asked that her son’s details not be published to protect his privacy. He is currently not in the hawker trade but is an able cook, she said. 
Asked why he wanted to be a hawker, Ms Yang said: “Your parents are getting older by the day, you cannot just let them do all the hard work right?” 
Since the two stalls are so close, the family can help each other out when one of them steps away, she said. 
Hawkers CNA spoke to were doubtful the stall was worth a monthly rent of S$10,000. Several said they did not think that the footfall at the food centre was high enough.
Mr Vijai Singh, who has been manning a drinks stall in the hawker centre since 1976, said customer traffic could not compare to the 1980s. 
“Compared to the 80s last time, people want to pay S$6,000 to rent also nobody want to give. Business was so good, I rent out for what,” said the 70-year-old.
“The crowd is not there. Too many places opened already,” he said, giving the example of Marine Parade’s only shopping mall, Parkway Parade, competing with other malls in the east. 
Another hawker agreed that the area had limited appeal. Mdm Lai, who has been selling roast duck at the hawker centre for about 30 years, said business has not improved significantly. 
Both Mr Vijai and Mdm Lai said that even though pedestrian traffic spiked when Marine Parade MRT station first started operating, the crowd at the market has since returned to normal levels. 
“The passing crowd here is not large. Those who patronise my stall are usually regulars who live in the area, unless there is church service,” Mdm Lai said in Mandarin, referring to the handful of churches in Marine Parade. 
Both felt that the current footfall would not be sufficient to cover a high rental. 
Other expenses, such as ingredients that have increased in price, also add to their operating costs, they said. Both said the stall would have to set high prices for its food, which might turn off customers. 
Tendered bids for stalls at the hawker centre ranged from S$313 to nearly S$7,000 between January 2018 and May this year, according to tender notices on NEA’s website. The lowest was a tendered bid of S$313 for a stall selling Indian cuisine in March 2020.