You’ll probably be wondering why both DON DON DONKI and Scarlett Supermarket chose the exact same day to open their stores at Waterway Point (same level too, at basement 1 but accessed by different entrances). I’m not sure if 14th Jan is an auspicious date or not but I suppose it makes sense to open your supermarkets just as people are getting ready to stock up for Chinese New Year. Opening just about two weeks prior to CNY would give staff a bit more time to get familiar with work processes vs opening the weekend before CNY, which would drive everyone crazy, I guess. Haha! But while DON DON DONKI has been drawing a never-ending crowd, Scarlett has opened to little to no fanfare. I overheard one of the customers asking the lady at the cashier when this store had opened and the latter replied that today’s their opening day. The customer was shocked. XD Unlike DONKI, Scarlett offered no balloons, drew no crowd and provided no indication whatsoever that today’s their first day of business at Waterway Point! (I only found out via their FB page about two hours ago)
No crowd. This picture was taken at 2.10pm:
No crowd, no queue. Just walk right in. But the same cannot be said for DONKI. I didn’t bother checking on the crowd situation ‘cos I could still see the line of people from where I stood outside the entrance to the West Wing…
I do think that the lactobacillus bread will raise some eyebrows… like, how? And more importantly… WHY? We’re used to probiotics in beverage-form, like Vitagen and Yakult. So… bread? Who came up with this idea? *I did note that this item has a sticker to indicate its relatively short shelf-life. So I might pop by again before they are expected to expire in March. Maybe I can snag a good deal and try these just for fun / to satisfy my curiosity about this product.
Interestingly… from Scarlett’s facebook page, I’ve found out that the store is named 思家客 because 思家 means ‘homesick’ and they aim to serve those who are from China and missing their homeland. So most of the popular products from China may be found at their stores. That said, Scarlett definitely has many fans who are Singaporeans. I know because my sis is one of them. XD Their flagship store at People’s Park Complex is open 24 hours a day so pop by any time you’d like. I have visited their outlets at Chinatown Point and Bedok. <- Both outlets are much bigger than this one at Waterway Point. Truth be told, the WWP outlet seems more like a minimart than a ‘supermarket’. They seem to have sacrificed variety for quantity – there’s just too much of every single product. Probably why I bought only 5 bottles of the same drink today. XD