Once a familiar name in many a Singapore shopping mall - and with more than 20 outlets at its peak - home-grown hardware chain Home-Fix will be shutting its last store here by the end of the week.
The firm, which has been placed under interim judicial management, has about S$19.8mil in liabilities on its books, The Business Times (BT) reported on Wednesday (Dec 11). Its e-commerce site will remain operational for now, as the company undergoes debt restructuring.
Home-Fix's physical presence has shrunk in recent years as the firm sought to expand its online offerings and branch into services and workshops.
But despite being held up by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his May Day rally speech last year as an example of a retailer evolving with the times, observers said that the transformation efforts may have been too little, too late.
Among the challenges that the do-it-yourself (DIY) chain had to grapple with were high mall rentals, competition from e-commerce and neighbourhood stores that sell the same wares at lower prices and a sluggish economy.
One of the firm's two directors, Low Cheong Kee, told creditors on Tuesday that the company's financial woes were due in part to loss-making stores and an inability to compete with the delivery rates of other e-commerce sites, BT reported, citing sources at the meeting.
Refurbishment works at Great World City and Thomson Plaza also hit sales at its two highest-grossing outlets, Low reportedly said.
Both stores have closed, while its units at Compass One and Novena Square were repossessed earlier this year. Home-Fix now lists just two stores on its website, at Tanglin Mall and Tampines One. The outlet at Tanglin Mall was shuttered and bore signs saying "business closed" , while the store at Tampines One had shelves that were half-empty.
A staff member at the Tampines store said that it would be closing by the end of the week, and declined to comment further.
Home-Fix's office in Tai Seng was largely empty yesterday afternoon, with cardboard boxes strewn about. The company did not respond to queries.
Home-Fix is the latest casualty in the retail sector. Cosmetics retailer Sasa announced earlier this month that it would be closing all 22 stores in Singapore, while DFS will be pulling its liquor concessions out of Changi Airport next June after nearly 40 years.
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