The Business Times
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Helping HDB businesses get crowds and go digital

The annual Heartlands Festival brings a buzz to neighbourhood shops

Paige Lim &

Ammiel Jr Wan

Published Wed, Feb 15, 2023 · 04:00 PM
    • Shoppers participating in a hawker-themed game show organised as part of this year's Heartlands Festival.
    • Jocelyn Loi is the third-generation owner of All Things Hainanese, which sells both traditional Hainanese yi bua and modern takes on it.
    • After his father died in 2013, Jack Chen (left) joined his mother Soon Lay Geok to run Chen Soon Lee Book Stamp & Coin Centre.
    • Shoppers participating in a hawker-themed game show organised as part of this year's Heartlands Festival. PHOTO: HEARTLANDS FESTIVAL 2022
    • Jocelyn Loi is the third-generation owner of All Things Hainanese, which sells both traditional Hainanese yi bua and modern takes on it. PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN, BT
    • After his father died in 2013, Jack Chen (left) joined his mother Soon Lay Geok to run Chen Soon Lee Book Stamp & Coin Centre. PHOTO: JACK CHEN

    HEARTLAND businesses need to innovate, go digital, and keep providing the personal touch – and the annual Heartlands Festival hopes to encourage this while bringing in the crowds, said Lai Cheng Yi, executive director of The Federation of Merchants’ Associations, Singapore (FMAS).

    Running till Feb 24, the three-month-long festival is organised by the Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore (HECS), a subsidiary of FMAS. It is supported by FMAS, Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

    The first edition was held in November 2021 to bring customers back to the heartlands during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as encourage digitalisation, said Lai in an interview with The Business Times (BT).

    Singapore SMEsDigitalisationRetailHawkers

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