Laundry, Drycleaners & Designer Hangbag Cleaners

Recently I read some news articles / features on having your designer handbags professionally cleaned, and that complaints against drycleaners are on the rise in Singapore the past few years. I thought it would be a good time to do a post on the various laundry shops in Raffles Place I see.

Personally, I would recommend Presto Drycleaners located at OUB Centre (One Raffles Place now) 5th floor just next to the escalator. I had brought a duchess satin evening dress to the drycleaner located at Raffles Exchange but the old woman there told me to "remove the rhinestoned-straps" because "if damaged, not their fault". I was appalled by her unprofessionalism and asked my dress designer what to do. Luckily he recommended that I go to Presto Drycleaners as they are the "better service provider". I googled for the nearest outlet and luckily I found one in OUB Centre! Was I glad I brought my two dresses there (the duchess satin and a silk-linen blend), as the service was efficient, prompt and professional! The lady there was knowledgeable and assured me they are used to good-quality evening wear and they knew how to handle my dresses. What a sharp contrast! I got my dresses back on time, nicely cleaned and pressed, and there were even sponge-padding used to protect my dresses from the hangers! You could see I am still impressed by their service ;)

The first drycleaner at the Raffles Exchange I mentioned has since moved / closed down - no surprise there!

If you wish to find other drycleaners / laundry services in Raffles Place, off-hand I could think of these places (no names because I have not used their services before and would not want to recommend them personally):

Arcade level 3 - at least 2 shops, 1 offers designer handbag-cleaning too
Chevron House level 1, near the "Hitachi Tower Smokers' Corner" hehe!
Goldenshoe Market level 1, beside May Hua Food Court - they offer designer handbag-cleaning and clothes-alteration too
Republic Plaza Tower II level 2 - clothes-alteration services offered too

I have not ventured further than the immediate Raffles Place, so if you found more please let me know! And share with me your comments if you have used any of these laundry shops ;)

By the way, be very careful to whom you send your expensive designer-wear and handbags for cleaning; there is always a risk something goes wrong, and even if the business is willing to make full compensation, as we all know, money may not buy you that same beloved bag / dress again :(

Chinese New Year - Year of The Rabbit

Time flies, and Chinese all over the world are preparing to send majestic Mr Tigger away, and welcome Hoppy Bunny this Thursday 3 Feb 2011 ;)

I am not sure if it's an age thing, but this year I feel the urge to properly decorate my house and to try and create the appropriate festive atmosphere:

慈菇 (Arrowhead chips) & cookies / Pineapple Pocket Pies from Cedele Raffles Place

My fave kueh bahlu

We call these "bee hives" LOL

Pineapple Tarts - a "must-have" for CNY!

Aren't these peonies simply gorgeous? I love them!

These are actually fruit candies from Taiwan! I bought them from NTUC supermart for only $2.20/box - I had a good laugh over the packaging, because they are exactly like fruit cartons, yet are only palm-sized! So kawaii!

Of course how can I talk about CNY without mentioning hongbaos / red packets? Every year you'd see different designs, but this year pink and cream are favourite new alternatives over the traditional red/gold combination. I liked the pink ones, until I see more and more of the same, so they are not so special anymore I guess hehe...

Here's wishing everyone a prosperous, joyous and healthy Year of Rabbit!

国泰民安
新年快乐
兔年吉祥

Conspicuous Consumption

Conspicuous consumption, as defined in wikipedia, is "lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status."

I look around me and this term pops up in my mind constantly - in Singapore shopping is deemed a national hobby (tying in first place with eating!) so it's no wonder you witness consumerism constantly. But what makes it "conspicuous" is the fact that the goods purchased have no intrinsic utility (value) - so would you buy XXX if no one knows about it?

After a whole year of prudent spending - only a short getaway, redeeming air miles for free air tickets to boot - we have decided to pamper ourselves and give in to temptation...

Yes Logong got me an iPad, not just the cover...hehe

My Christmas pressie Part I to Logong - to help him wake up better :P

Christmas pressie Part II to Logong: his latest craze - toy / retro cameras!

Delightful long tees from Uniqlo - Franche Lippée ...do these little red-hooded figures remind you of...

This picture is like my portrait - it never fails to bring a smile to my face! See the complete story on Logong's blog, The Content Guy.

Supermarkets in Raffles Place

Recently our corporate visitors have been staying at the nearby serviced apartments, Ascott Raffles Place. The best thing about this place is daily bookings are available! And the rates are pretty competitive, and definitely much cheaper than The Fullerton Hotel, the next nearest hotel in the heart of CBD. Each apartment comes equipped with a washer and dryer, and if you wish to cook, equipment and utensils are provided in the room too. However I am not sure items like washing detergent and cooking ingredients are available! So where could you buy such essential items if you are staying here for more than 2 weeks and you will not be reimbursed for laundry charges by your company?

If you do not wish to travel by public transport / drive out of the CBD to get some groceries, your best bet is to walk to Cold Storage at the basement of China Square Central.

Here are the store details:

18 Cross Street
#B1-03-04 China Square Central S(048423)

Mon - Sat : 9.00am - 9.00pm
Sun : 10.00am - 9.00pm

Nearest MRT : Chinatown Station
Bus Services: 147, 143, 80

It is not a big supermarket but if you wish to get your normal cleaning detergents, snacks, some convenience food, then this store should meet your needs.

If you find this store not up-to-mark, you could venture a bit further to the following:

Carrefour @ Suntec City
3 Temasek Boulevard
Suntec City Mall #01-199
Singapore 038983
Tel: 6333 6868
Fax: 6333 6178
Email: singapore@carrefour.com

Opening Hours
10am - 10.30pm (Sun - Thurs)
10am - 11pm (Fri & Sat)

*Free shuttle bus service
provided by Suntec Management
from City Hall MRT

Carrefour @ Plaza Singapura (Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station, 2 stations / 5 minutes from Raffles Place)
68 Orchard Road
Plaza Singapura #B1-09
Singapore 238839
Tel: 6836 6868
Fax: 6339 7866
Email: singapore@carrefour.com

Opening Hours
10am - 10.30pm (Sun - Thurs)
10am - 11pm (Fri & Sat)

*Free shuttle bus service
provided by CapitaLand
Frequency: 30 mins
First Bus: 10am Last Bus: 8pm

Jasons Market Place (by Cold Storage) @ Raffles City Basement
(this is a more high-end supermarket so expect to pay a premium on everything!)
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-01 Raffles City Shopping Centre S(179103)

Mon - Sun : 9.00am - 11.00pm

NTUC Fairprice (Singaporeans' favourite co-op)
@ Tiong Bahru Plaza basement 1(Tiong Bahru MRT station is 7 mins' away from RP) (08:00 AM- 11:00 PM)
@ Tanjong Pagar next to Tanjong Pagar Plaza (07:00 AM- 10:00 PM)

Some of these supermarkets, especially Cold Storage, Jasons and Carrefour, have cooked food, cut fresh fruit etc. for takeaway like a deli. So check them out! I am one person who loves to go supermarkets when I am overseas LOL!

SunMoon Fruit Shop

Since there is no supermarket in the immediate Raffles Place area, if you wish to buy fresh fruit then head on down to SunMoon (or Sun Moon I thought) at Chevron House (formerly Caltex House) basement. While prices are slightly higher than say NTUC, the variety here is wider and quality, better. You often see more exotic (and expensive) fruit here too. To cater to the needs of the working crowd, they have in recent months offered fresh fruit juice and cut fruit for sale in convenient take-away packages. They also have individual bananas for sale (1 for SGD 0.40 or 3 for SGD 1), so you need not buy a whole comb and leave them in the office :D However I would get fruit juice and cut fruit from the fruit shops in Arcade or Goldenshoe; it's much cheaper and the juices are less diluted :P But if it's variety and exotic fruit you want, Sun Moon is still the place to go.

Other products on sale are dried fruit (and other assorted snacks), Meiji milk, yoghurt, and ice creams and Snapple juices. I sometimes see organic products too, as well as cereal fruit bars.

We must have a healthy and balanced diet, so make fruit your preferred dessert choice!

Alteration Service - Su Denim & Alter Pro

Su Denim is located in Raffles Exchange @ Raffles Place MRT, just opposite the row of POSBank ATMs, right next to the florist as you walk towards 6 Battery Road and UOB Plazas. According to my colleagues, to alter the hem of pants, machine-sewn is SGD 5 and hand-sewn, SGD 6. That is pretty reasonable, as much as the ladies / shops in neighbourhood markets would charge. They also sell some bags, apparel and accessories. Check it out!

Another (slightly pricier I think) place to get alteration done is Alter Pro at OUB Centre #02-01A. (Edit 2010-10-17: OUB Centre is now known as One Raffles Place.) This is a very well-established shop in Raffles Place so I guess you can let them alter your clothes with confidence.

Hong Lim Market & Food Centre

Situated just on the outskirt of Chinatown near Chinatown Point, Hong Lim is a brisk 15-min walk from Raffles MRT. The Hong Lim Market and Food Centre are on two floors, with some traditional small shops selling goods like fresh fruit to traditional pastries and Chinese tea. The wet market on the ground floor is opened for business in the mornings, and because of the smell I try not to go near there hehe...as such we tend to eat on the 2nd floor. The famous food stalls here are the curry mee, Outram Char Kway Teow, Crayfish Ipoh Hor Fun, and most famously, Hokkien Prawn Mee (the soup / dry type, not fried.) However over the years, as the old cooks retire, the standard of hawker food here has dropped. However we still venture here from time to time just for something different from the usual food places in Raffles Place.

Spotted a long queue outside this new "Barcook Bakery" (pardon the bad shot but too many people were staring so this was a sneak pic hehe). The savoury buns here look just like those offered in fancier bakery chains, so I wonder what's the attraction. We were too full and did not feel like joining the crowd - it's just bread right?

My colleagues like to come to this nostalgic tidbits shop Hock Lam because their specialty seems to be China-imported candies and such. Remember our childhood favourite Rabbit Milk sweets? You would be surprised to know they come in many flavours these days, and I see them all right here first hehe...I think the shop also carries Chinese tea, Macau almond cookies etc.

If you need some dried seafood 海味 or Chinese herbs, do not miss this modern Chinese medical hall Sin Teck Soon (I translated the name from Chinese 新德信). Since I was a kid, my mom has been patronising the various branches of this family business all over Chinatown. Different family members run each shop these days, and I am sure for a bargain-hunter like mom to approve, their prices and quality must be reasonable & reliable.

My all-time favourite indulgence whenever I come to Hong Lim has surely got to be this:

Kim Hock Guan bak kua or BBQ pork jerky! My dad used to buy from this generations-old shop when I was young, so I am keeping the tradition alive in memory of him. A must-have during Chinese New Year, bak kua is an utterly sinful snack's price will soar as it draws nearer to the big day. Famous shops will see people queueing for 4-5 hours just to get their favourite meat fix. Being Mrs El Cheapo, I am buying some before the prices go up, just to satisfy our craving in the event we are not getting any during CNY. Whoever says you must fight with the masses and pay through the nose during CNY for bak kua? During the rest of the year, the meat is better prepared (not rushed) and cheaper I feel! So let's eat smarter eh?

Speaking of Chinese New Year, I better get started on my spring cleaning! Only 2 weekends left!

The Body Shop 80s Original Haul

In my previous post on TBS 80s Originals, I mentioned that the "adorable" prices would be until 27 Jan 2010 (Tues). With this in mind, I quickly went to the TPY outlet to grab some before they are sold out. There's still lots of stock in this outlet, and I think TBS is testing the market by bringing back these 80s favourites. So if you feedback to the sales assistants, maybe TBS will make these scents their staples again :P

Logong & I love The Original Mint Source shampoo for its refreshing and natural mint scent & zing - it's the perfect cure for my headaches too! I was surprised to find the Ice Blue shampoo smells just as nice, and it's added with Community Trade aloe vera. The SA told me it's perfect for oily hair (Logong!)

For myself, I got the banana shampoo + conditioner after Rouge Deluxe's rave review. Now I just hope I won't be lazy and will remember to use the conditioner with the shampoo! Out of all these come-back kids, I love Dewberry the best. Logong liked Fuzzy Peach but I still kind of find it artificial - same feeling as back in the 90s haha! I was actually looking forward to getting the Green Apple shower gel, but upon smelling the tester again, I really think it's very artificial, just like the Fuzzy Peach.

What is YOUR favourite 80s scent from The Body Shop?

The Body Shop 80s Originals

From Rouge Deluxe, I realised the special prices for the 1980s favourites are valid till 27 Jan 2010 - so hurry down if you are a fan of these scents: Dewberry, Fuzzy Peach, Cucumber and Ice Blue! Prices range from $9.90 (shower gels & hair products) to $12.90 (lotions) and the hair products usually cost $16.90. I like how TBS calls these "adorable prices"!

These fragrances really bring back memories of secondary school days (yep start counting my age!) But my school days were in the 90s and these scents were still so popular. I had a friend Qoochie, she was so mad about Dewberry and Fuzzy Peach she MUST go in for a sniff each and everytime we walked past a TBS shop...those were the days hehe...

When I told Qoochie about the return of these fragrances, she was so excited and guess what? She STILL has the perfumes from those days! I guess they must be so precious she still kept them! Hey we were poor school girls then, so a $20-30 bottle of perfume meant months of saving up ok...

So if these scents bring back equally fond memories for you, hurry on down to the nearest TBS outlet. Good luck!

The Body Shop Post-Christmas / Jan '10 Sale

Each week after Christmas, TBS has different product ranges on sale. When I saw that the Tea Tree Oil Foaming Cleanser will be on sale at $12.90 each (same as during warehouse sale!) I knew I had to stock up alot for Logong, who has the world's #1 oil-producing face :P He loves this cleanser and since I only got 2 bottles during the last warehouse sale, I have been hoarding it LOL.

So on 6 Jan during lunch hour I rushed down to the nearest TBS outlet at Change Alley; while I always go to the one at OUB Centre basement, it was a small and crowded shop due to its convenient location. I was lucky (or unlucky) as I was the only customer in the shop -- the sales assistant kept following me around pushing products. One such product was the Moisture White Cleansing Powder which was having a 1-for-1 deal @ $29.90 each. The SA tried it on my hand and I loved how the nice clean scent was and my hand felt fresh and soft - it's kind of like Fancl's washing powder but with preservatives of course ;) The SA told me in the decade she's been with TBS, never has this treatment range been on sale / offer. Innocently I took her word for it and bought not 2 but 4 bottles!

Since I was buying quite alot, the SAs convinced me to sign up for membership in order to earn some rebates and discounts. So fine, I signed up and guess what? Just for members upon signing up, they have special deals like 20% off all regular-priced items, and $10 off certain gift sets. As the SAs were so good at their job and I was feeling kind of harrassed, my weak will gave in and I got a Tea Tree Oil set + Wise Woman set as an early present for my mom ;) The Tea Tree Oil set was pretty attractive because the small bottle of oil costs $16.90 on its own, and I now pay only $19.90 for the set which has cleanser, toner and moisturiser thrown in. They would keep telling you you are entitled to such & such deals but must make use of it while the system prompts - I had the feeling I was forced into making alot of impulse purchases which did not feel good. Anyway I was happy with my purchases and knew we would use them for a long time...

I went home and immediately tried the Moisture White Cleansing Powder - after using it for less than 10 days, I noticed my face getting tighter and dry, and to my horror last Thursday at work I found my face peeling! I am so NOT using this product on my sensitive skin again. So much for being an "all skin type" cleanser! I was even more annoyed at the SAs for pushing this product because look what I found out about the TBS on Rouge Deluxe:

The reason for the 1-for-1 deal was because they are introducing the new range Moisture white Shiso! THIS was why they need to get rid of old stock! I really feel cheated. However I will not totally write off TBS because the next day after my big purchase, I was at the Raffles City TBS and the SAs were MUCH nicer and gentler there. The SA was sweet enough to tell me after this big sale, most of the items like White Musk Midnight Iris, Mandarin Orchid & my all-time fave, Cassis Rose will be discontinued! What can I do but stock up on the shower gel, my fave?


I hope you managed to get some good deals during this post-Christmas sale!

Rip-Off Lucky Bags From agnès b

Last Thursday AhCapp forwarded me an EDM from agnès b. Singapore; they will be selling the popular Japanese "Fukubukuro bag" (or Lucky Bag) for SGD50/bag - each bag is worth SGD250! How could I resist such a great and exciting deal right?

So on Friday I dragged my two colleagues to go down to my nearest agnès b. outlet and grabbed two bags, one for me and AhCapp each. I must say the service SUX and I was shocked when the SA told me I had to pay cash. Luckily (or not so luckily) I had enough cash to pay for both bags and left.

My colleagues were even more excited than me about opening the bags; I told them too bad, I wanted to wait for AhCapp before opening them. One of the bags was big and soft - a bag I thought! While the other bag was kind of hard, which felt like accessories that AhCapp wanted! To my horror, when I got back to office, I got AhCapp's e-mail telling me to open the Lucky Bags immediately! Her friend had opened hers and found 2 useless pieces of clothing in her bag! Maybe I am ignorant, but I've always thought of agnès b. bags, not apparel, and assumed only bags would be sold in Singapore.

Anyhow imagine my great disappointment and disgust upon opening those silver "Lucky" Bags:


One bag contained the two tops; the other, a key chain and a petticoat -- YES A PETTICOAT, something which our mothers stopped wearing in the 80s I believe! Come on, how on earth could the petticoat and key chain have cost SGD250?! No wonder nobody bought them and they had to be sold in "mystery" bags! What a rip-off!

Now I just hope AhCapp can wear the two tops; otherwise it's SGD100 down the drain - nuts! Lesson learnt - the concept of "Fukubukuro bag" / Lucky Bag in Singapore is too good to be true! What a memorable lesson for 2010...