Chitchat Funan & why is it gone

johnny333 · Sep 6, 2017

I recently had to visit the Adelphi & noticed that Funan is gone :eek:

When it was announced that Funan would be closing I thought that were would just be closed for renovations. However it has been demolished. I was surprised by this because Funan is the youngest building in that neighbourhood.

Adelphi, Peninsula, ... are all older buildings that are still around & still popular.
So after they spend $$$$ on a new building to replace Funan, how certain are they that it will be successful?

Spore is facing a glut of shopping space. They will have to charge premium rentals for a new building like Funan ver 2. So who's money is being wasted?

Scrooball (clone) · Sep 6, 2017

U damn outdated. Funan gone for so long.

Do u think the President is still Yusof bin Ishak?

johnny333 · Sep 6, 2017

The only time I visit that area is to visit Funan. What else is there to see in that area? Last time there were reasons to visit e.g. the library, Hill Street food court & Funan.

One by one, they have demolished these places & so I don't have any reason to visit that area anymore.

Scrooball (clone) · Sep 6, 2017

Guess u don't read the news, talk to people and so on as well.

johnny333 · Sep 6, 2017

Scrooball (clone) said:
Guess u don't read the news, talk to people and so on as well.

It's a weekday & the young people I know are working.

The fact is that for retirees, there are not many places to spend our time in Spore. That is why I prefer to spend my time outside Spore.

It is kinda sad to see what Spore has become. C'est la vie :smile:

halsey02 · Sep 6, 2017

johnny333 said:
It's a weekday & the young people I know are working.

The fact is that for retirees, there are not many places to spend our time in Spore. That is why I prefer to spend my time outside Spore.

It is kinda sad to see what Spore has become. C'est la vie

This is the second reincarnation of Funan....the original was Funan Centre, then it underwent a major refurbishment it became Funan Digtal Mall...now that is completely demolished...a new mall is coming up...

The Adelphi...is quietly prodding along....with the hifi shops plus now it has other type of shops too & last year, it became a notoriety with the mushrooming of massage joints offering "special services" in the basement & the place is next to Supreme Court & at the back is the ex-City Hall....ha ha ha...it has now been cleaned up..

Peninsular Shopping Centre is still functioning....many of the shops are still around, the tailor shop at the basement, Ruby Photo on the ground floor....it has a charm of its own...

Peninsular Plaza on the opposite is now "little mynamar".....smells like Burma!.

Capitol had been renovated with a new shopping area & a block of residences...the annexe are high end boutique shop....the entire area within 1 k.m...is slowly evolving...many of the old buildings are gone...& so is Armenian Street...

tanwahtiu · Sep 6, 2017

Under pinky everything gone. Even fu nan 福南 the fu福 is not hock but 受难.

Gone leow. Go apply Chinese Card standby leaving, Singapore will suffer more under pap.

johnny333 · Sep 6, 2017

halsey02 said:
This is the second reincarnation of Funan....the original was Funan Centre, then it underwent a major refurbishment it became Funan Digtal Mall...now that is completely demolished...a new mall is coming up...

The Adelphi...is quietly prodding along....with the hifi shops plus now it has other type of shops too & last year, it became a notoriety with the mushrooming of massage joints offering "special services" in the basement & the place is next to Supreme Court & at the back is the ex-City Hall....ha ha ha...it has now been cleaned up..

Peninsular Shopping Centre is still functioning....many of the shops are still around, the tailor shop at the basement, Ruby Photo on the ground floor....it has a charm of its own...

Peninsular Plaza on the opposite is now "little mynamar".....smells like Burma!.

Capitol had been renovated with a new shopping area & a block of residences...the annexe are high end boutique shop....the entire area within 1 k.m...is slowly evolving...many of the old buildings are gone...& so is Armenian Street...

I took the opportunity to visit all these places since I was in the area & here's what I think:

Adelphi is going to survive because there are now more businesses that cater to the female crowd.

I see a few vacant stores in Peninsula but they will survive because the stores are owned by the store owners. They also offer unique shops & not the usual stores you find at Orchard or the heartlands.

The newer Peninsula will survive because it has been adopted by the Myanamese. I notice that the POSB bank is now gone & replaced by a grocery store :smile:

There used to be 2 Peng Kwee stores selling 2nd hand Rolexes. Used to be manned by females & now there is only 1 store selling antiques.

The stores at Capitol are in trouble. Looks very deserted. I doubt there are enough tourists to keep these stores open. They must be desperate. At 2 different stores the girls approached me with samples :biggrin:

Bonut · Sep 7, 2017

johnny333 said:
I took the opportunity to visit all these places since I was in the area & here's what I think:

Adelphi is going to survive because there are now more businesses that cater to the female crowd.

I see a few vacant stores in Peninsula but they will survive because the stores are owned by the store owners. They also offer unique shops & not the usual stores you find at Orchard or the heartlands.

The newer Peninsula will survive because it has been adopted by the Myanamese. I notice that the POSB bank is now gone & replaced by a grocery store There used to be 2 Peng Kwee stores selling 2nd hand Rolexes. Used to be manned by females & now there is only 1 store selling antiques.

The stores at Capitol are in trouble. Looks very deserted. I doubt there are enough tourists to keep these stores open. They must be desperate. At 2 different stores the girls approached me with samples

I don't understand why they tore down Columbo Court to build Adelphi. I prefer Columbo Court, and it makes a lot of sense to have an office building next to High Court with 2 levels of shopping, instead of a half-hearted shopping mall like Adelphi without an anchor tenant. I remember Pala SC had an office in that building.

I stopped going to Peninsula Plaza after the whole place smell of Burmese food. I cannot stand that smell. Peng Kwee must have been defeated by online businesses.

As for Peninsula Shopping Center, it's strange the sports shops can still survive despite the big chains like RSH, Sportslink and WoS.

scroobal · Sep 7, 2017

Whoever designed Capital should be shot. No shop will survive there.

halsey02 said:
This is the second reincarnation of Funan....the original was Funan Centre, then it underwent a major refurbishment it became Funan Digtal Mall...now that is completely demolished...a new mall is coming up...

The Adelphi...is quietly prodding along....with the hifi shops plus now it has other type of shops too & last year, it became a notoriety with the mushrooming of massage joints offering "special services" in the basement & the place is next to Supreme Court & at the back is the ex-City Hall....ha ha ha...it has now been cleaned up..

Peninsular Shopping Centre is still functioning....many of the shops are still around, the tailor shop at the basement, Ruby Photo on the ground floor....it has a charm of its own...

Peninsular Plaza on the opposite is now "little mynamar".....smells like Burma!.

Capitol had been renovated with a new shopping area & a block of residences...the annexe are high end boutique shop....the entire area within 1 k.m...is slowly evolving...many of the old buildings are gone...& so is Armenian Street...

halsey02 · Sep 7, 2017

Bonut said:
I don't understand why they tore down Columbo Court to build Adelphi. I prefer Columbo Court, and it makes a lot of sense to have an office building next to High Court with 2 levels of shopping, instead of a half-hearted shopping mall like Adelphi without an anchor tenant. I remember Pala SC had an office in that building.

I stopped going to Peninsula Plaza after the whole place smell of Burmese food. I cannot stand that smell. Peng Kwee must have been defeated by online businesses.

As for Peninsula Shopping Center, it's strange the sports shops can still survive despite the big chains like RSH, Sportslink and WoS.

Colombo Court was torn down to build that 'spaceport' aka The Supreme Court not Adelphi, The Adelphi is the site of the old Adelphi plus a row of shop houses. The Adelphi houses many Hifi shops....

johnny333 · Sep 7, 2017

halsey02 said:
Colombo Court was torn down to build that 'spaceport' aka The Supreme Court not Adelphi, The Adelphi is the site of the old Adelphi plus a row of shop houses. The Adelphi houses many Hifi shops....

I think think there used to be an Adelphi hotel a Long time ago. I remember going there for a wedding when I was very young.

I remember that when Colombo Court 1st opened, it housed some shops from around that area. Eventually some gov't offices was located there e.g. the to renew your IC.

Eventually they demolished the place & built the courts

Funan is located where Hock Lam Street was located. There was a coffee shop that sold wanton Mee & a shop that sold spare parts soup. I recall that the food was yummy :smile:

johnny333 · Sep 7, 2017

Bonut said:
I don't understand why they tore down Columbo Court to build Adelphi. I prefer Columbo Court, and it makes a lot of sense to have an office building next to High Court with 2 levels of shopping, instead of a half-hearted shopping mall like Adelphi without an anchor tenant. I remember Pala SC had an office in that building.

I stopped going to Peninsula Plaza after the whole place smell of Burmese food. I cannot stand that smell. Peng Kwee must have been defeated by online businesses.

As for Peninsula Shopping Center, it's strange the sports shops can still survive despite the big chains like RSH, Sportslink and WoS.

Remember Feder Sports? They used to be located at Bras Basah with the other sports stores. They have 2 stores at Peninsula. When I was there I purchased a pair of Asics shoes & I got a a $10 discount :smile:

I notice that next to Peng Kwee is a discrete money lending business. I wouldn't be surprised if they have branched out because now a days who buys Rolex watches?

I used to eat at the basement food court whenever I visited Funan. That was back when Burger King still had a branch at this basement. Now you will only find Myanmar & Indian food there. I had lunch at a place named Nile & was surprised that the food was ok.

I doubt you will find many Sporeans visiting this area & that is why I doubt that Funan 2.0 will Be successful. It might have been different if the PAP had left the old public library and the Hill Street Food court alone instead of demolishing them. More people would have been attracted to this area.

halsey02 · Sep 7, 2017

johnny333 said:
I think think there used to be an Adelphi hotel a Long time ago. I remember going there for a wedding when I was very young.

I remember that when Colombo Court 1st opened, it housed some shops from around that area. Eventually some gov't offices was located there e.g. the to renew your IC.

Eventually they demolished the place & built the courts

Funan is located where Hock Lam Street was located. There was a coffee shop that sold wanton Mee & a shop that sold spare parts soup. I recall that the food was yummy

Colombo court with the fountain in the front, Kwang Sia Record Shop was at the basement & their anchor tenant was Cortina Shopping Centre, where I bought a set of cookware , which I still have today. Was the IC office there? I thought they were at Empress place? Adelphi Hotel & there were a row of shophouses, I use to buy my annual pair of leather shoes from one of the shops there, an Indian shop by the name of I think it was called "whitehorse" ?... a pair of Swan or something else...later became a bit thrifty, got chummy with Bata, down the road. There was a post office there too, City Hall Post Office, at basement of Colombo Court, then it moved to the back of City Hall, now they are at Bras Basah Complex ( known as Robinson Rd P.O.) Colombo Court used to house many Lawyer's Offices & those offices, where you can use their address to register your Company to ROB ( registry of business). You could cross the street from Colombo Court to that coffee shop you are talking about, at the entrance of Hock Lam Street, on the right hand side by the road side, is the sour plum drink stall, where you could buy their sour plum juice in a bottle.They later moved to Hill Street Hawker Centre..where are they now?

halsey02 · Sep 7, 2017

johnny333 said:
Remember Feder Sports? They used to be located at Bras Basah with the other sports stores. They have 2 stores at Peninsula. When I was there I purchased a pair of Asics shoes & I got a a $10 discount

I notice that next to Peng Kwee is a discrete money lending business. I wouldn't be surprised if they have branched out because now a days who buys Rolex watches?

I used to eat at the basement food court whenever I visited Funan. That was back when Burger King still had a branch at this basement. Now you will only find Myanmar & Indian food there. I had lunch at a place named Nile & was surprised that the food was ok.

I doubt you will find many Sporeans visiting this area & that is why I doubt that Funan 2.0 will Be successful. It might have been different if the PAP had left the old public library and the Hill Street Food court alone instead of demolishing them. More people would have been attracted to this area.

A & W Restaurant, where every Tuesday, religiously I will go there from office to eat Coney Dog for $2, still thinking of it. Then later it became KFC. In the old Funan, as you walk in, there was a shop selling curry chicken with rice or brad & was yummy, on the top floor, was the food court & Corona Chicken started there. Later Funan Edition, where Challenger was the anchor tenant on the top floor, they operated a small cafe, in which they sold meals with different menus every day, the cook there was a Hainanese cook, whose curry was so tasty...that I will try to go there on that certain day in a week, to have my meals...they used to serve good pork chop rice too....

johnny333 · Sep 8, 2017

halsey02 said:
Colombo court with the fountain in the front, Kwang Sia Record Shop was at the basement & their anchor tenant was Cortina Shopping Centre, where I bought a set of cookware , which I still have today. Was the IC office there? I thought they were at Empress place? Adelphi Hotel & there were a row of shophouses, I use to buy my annual pair of leather shoes from one of the shops there, an Indian shop by the name of I think it was called "whitehorse" ?... a pair of Swan or something else...later became a bit thrifty, got chummy with Bata, down the road. There was a post office there too, City Hall Post Office, at basement of Colombo Court, then it moved to the back of City Hall, now they are at Bras Basah Complex ( known as Robinson Rd P.O.) Colombo Court used to house many Lawyer's Offices & those offices, where you can use their address to register your Company to ROB ( registry of business). You could cross the street from Colombo Court to that coffee shop you are talking about, at the entrance of Hock Lam Street, on the right hand side by the road side, is the sour plum drink stall, where you could buy their sour plum juice in a bottle.They later moved to Hill Street Hawker Centre..where are they now?

I remember that it was where you went to get an IC because I went there to get my IC. I remember that there were TVs in the waiting room showing Mr. Bean episodes :biggrin:

I remember the post office. There was an electronic store named Chusan which were originally located on the same Street until they were displaced by the building of Colombo Court. After the building was completed they got a store there.

I used to frequent the Hill Street food court for the wanton Mee, Kway Teow and the sour plum juice. I would often tau pow all 3 :smile:

Only know that the famous Kway Teow store is now in Bedok. No one seems to know what has happened to the other stores:(

That road used to be a happening place. Metro's 1st store used to be nearby. The original Polar cafe was also there. The Bata store is still located there. Next to it was the National electronics showroom(Panasonic). At this junction there was the Swee Lee store selling musical instruments, Balbir sports store which sold Graupner remote control plane kits,....

Capitol theatre was a popular cinema as well as the nearby Magnolia Milk Bar.

In the past there were all these stores that made the place popular. Compared to today where you only have gov't buildings & expensive branded stores.

halsey02 · Sep 8, 2017

johnny333 said:
I remember that it was where you went to get an IC because I went there to get my IC. I remember that there were TVs in the waiting room showing Mr. Bean episodes

I remember the post office. There was an electronic store named Chusan which were originally located on the same Street until they were displaced by the building of Colombo Court. After the building was completed they got a store there.

I used to frequent the Hill Street food court for the wanton Mee, Kway Teow and the sour plum juice. I would often tau pow all 3 Only know that the famous Kway Teow store is now in Bedok. No one seems to know what has happened to the other stores:(

That road used to be a happening place. Metro's 1st store used to be nearby. The original Polar cafe was also there. The Bata store is still located there. Next to it was the National electronics showroom(Panasonic). At this junction there was the Swee Lee store selling musical instruments, Balbir sports store which sold Graupner remote control plane kits,....

Capitol theatre was a popular cinema as well as the nearby Magnolia Milk Bar.

In the past there were all these stores that made the place popular. Compared to today where you only have gov't buildings & expensive branded stores.

Had stepped into Metro @ High Street, but didn't buy anything back then; use to have afternoon tea at Polar Cafe, when young, club sandwich with a glass of tomato juice or the triangular shape packet of Magnolia Milk. High street, where we will go & find the cheapest electronics stuffs, from VHS player/recorder to Calculators, home appliances & cameras. Capitol for the movies, where I watched most of Gu Long adapted movies & there was hawkers stalls at the back of Capitol Multi Storey Car Park, where there was a damn good Kambing Sup Stall. Eat often at Magnolia Milk Bar & visited the place for the last time, when it closed years ago; & Merlin Restaurant at Capitol Annexe, for their Beef Brisket, or Wanton, or Shredded Chicken noodle or Ipoh Hor Fun & wash down with a cold glass of Soya Milk, almond Flavour.

The High Street/North Bridge Rd/ Coleman Street/High Street area was the shopping 'mall', where , my optician is there, tailor, household utensils shop, Cortina Dept Store, Emporium, record shops ( Kwang Seah & DaDa), Shoes ( including Bata), Cafe ( Polar etc), & food at Hock Lam Street.

It was a vibrant area until Urban Renewal came along...now it looks like a 'whitewash' area, devoid of an identity or ambience...

Narong Wongwan · Sep 8, 2017

Bonut said:
I don't understand why they tore down Columbo Court to build Adelphi. I prefer Columbo Court, and it makes a lot of sense to have an office building next to High Court with 2 levels of shopping, instead of a half-hearted shopping mall like Adelphi without an anchor tenant. I remember Pala SC had an office in that building.

I stopped going to Peninsula Plaza after the whole place smell of Burmese food. I cannot stand that smell. Peng Kwee must have been defeated by online businesses.

As for Peninsula Shopping Center, it's strange the sports shops can still survive despite the big chains like RSH, Sportslink and WoS.

Look at Queensway and you'll understand why these sport shops still surviving.
La Vanita there that imports genuine jerseys have a loyal following....and they've gone online as well.
Even Jay Gee started selling Levi's jeans from there....I think they still own a few units there.

As for PP....Peng Kwee might have moved out but they still going strong with outlets in other areas.
im just surprised the photography shops haven't moved.

johnny333 · Sep 8, 2017

halsey02 said:
It was a vibrant area until Urban Renewal came along...now it looks like a 'whitewash' area, devoid of an identity or ambience...

Surprised that no one has asked about what ever happened to Merlin restaurant because the wanton Mee was good :smile:

.

In those days there were so many good wanton Mee places around e.g. around Peoples's Park, Hock Lam Street(hill street food centre), in front of the National Library, Peace Mansion, ...etc & these were only the places I was familiar with.

Nowadays the hawker food is expensive & the taste is mediocre at best :(

The PAP is responsible for so much damage to Spore. The relentless renovation of China town, Orchard Road, Katong, .... everywhere has cost Sporeans their heritage. I was happy when the population of Spore was only 3+ million.

Now things are breaking down all around Spore & we old timers can only look back to the good old days :o

Narong Wongwan · Sep 8, 2017

halsey02 said:
A & W Restaurant, where every Tuesday, religiously I will go there from office to eat Coney Dog for $2, still thinking of it. Then later it became KFC. In the old Funan, as you walk in, there was a shop selling curry chicken with rice or brad & was yummy, on the top floor, was the food court & Corona Chicken started there. Later Funan Edition, where Challenger was the anchor tenant on the top floor, they operated a small cafe, in which they sold meals with different menus every day, the cook there was a Hainanese cook, whose curry was so tasty...that I will try to go there on that certain day in a week, to have my meals...they used to serve good pork chop rice too....

There was a big rooaster in Funan too facing the street. The fast food chain didn't last long in Sg.
Yes Defunct local Corona chicken was at the food court above but I dun think they started out there. The food court had famous Hock Lam street beef noodles too which shifted from the street. Funan is actually mandarin for hock lam which the mall stood on.
The food court later shifted to the basement which later because the KFC/taco bell/Pizza Hut

Chitchat Funan & why is it gone

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