Singapore 360 - Day 7: Ion Orchard
It's the newest mall in town, it's Ion in Orchard Rd. 
During my last visit to Orchard, the nearby malls weren't as packed as they used to be; I was theorizing they must have all been there in Ion. 
I don't find it as attractive during the day as it is during the night. Although I have to confess—yet again—my photos don't do much justice to its unique beauty. When the sun is out and I look at Ion, for some strange reason, larvae and aliens come to mind.
As for the interior, it's elegant and fashionable —posh— enough to be considered among the best there is in Singapore. Expensive shops abound too of course.I actually had a chance to visit it during the sneak preview, just a few days before it formally opened to the general public. Aside from the omnipresent smell of contact cement, an air of urgency and excitement was very noticeable. Too bad I can't upload more pictures because blogger is currently having with the postings.
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Just a thought, it would be difficult to rank the malls here in Singapore without a fixed set of criteria. I like different malls for various reasons. I preferred Vivo City over Suntec before the latter was renovated. Aside from being a fan or Marché in Vivo City, I used to find Suntec suffocating — notice how it's very difficult to navigate during events like the I.T. Show because of sections that are very narrow. I like Paragon because it's never too crowded except during special holidays. I like Raffles City because it's not too far from the MRT and there are lots of shops and restaurants there that I frequent, not too mention there's a cold storage outlet at the basement level. I like the smaller malls for their convenience and their unique product offerings too.
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Labels: ion orchard, malls, orchard road, singapore, singapore 360
posted by Singapore Fountain Pen @ 1:16 AM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
I just can't really appreciate the "beauty" of Ion on the outside. It just looks too overdone to me. Plus, every time I've walked past it since it opened, the outside looked dirty, like they didn't bother to clean it beforehand, and that was even true just a few days after it opened.
The inside on the other hand is very nice. It does look very posh and most of the stores seem to be upscale. It's definitely a mall for people that mean to drop some serious cash, or people who are serious window shoppers! Ha ha ha!
Anyhow, I prefer Tampines 1. I got a chance to take a look in it the day it opened.
It's close to where I live. It's new and fresh. the interior is pretty open and spacious. The only thing I don't like is that on the end near the Esprit entrance, you have to go outside to continue down to the basement level. Seems like kind of a hassle. They should've just added another elevator inside.
Apart form the first floor and the those above it, ION is a bargain basement mall. The lower levels are cramped, tight and with no real thought to customers. It's only saving grace is that you can now wander from Borders at Wheellock to Kinokuniya at Taka without getting wet from either the rain or the humidity :-)
@Indiana: Really? I only looked at the first floor and those above it. I didn't look at the basement, but then again you can't really judge a whole mall based on the basement floor can you?
Then again, I wasn't too impressed with Ion. Sure, like I said, it looks nice, but other than that, it's got the same stores as most other malls. The only thing that really sets a mall apart from another mall is how nice it looks, and if the outside is ugly (in my opinion) and the inside is cramped (in your opinion) then it's probably going to fail to make a big wave in the greater Singapore shopping scene.
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