Sungei Road flea market
Shopping malls of various shapes and sizes are plenty in Singapore. With the air conditioned environment, the authentic merchandise with fixed prices provides shoppers with hassle free comfort. There is another world of shopping experience available on this sunny island. It has open air colourful street bazaars displaying cheap merchandise where every item can be bought at its lowest price through expert bargaining.
This is the infamous Sungei Road flea market. Sungei Road is also known as “Kek Sng Kio” in the Hokkien dialect or “结霜桥” in Chinese. The name was made in reference to the Singapore Ice Works which used to exist in the precinct. Founded in 1930, the Sungei Road flea market is the largest flea market in Singapore. In the past, this favourite spot was also known as the Thieves Market for the daring display of stolen goods up for sale to the highest bidders. Today, the business is operating in a legitimate way, both fair and square to the sellers and buyers.
During the early years, there were up to 400 street vendors peddling all types of merchandise; such as standard playing records, cuckoo chime clocks, exotic delicious food, old camera and watches, Buddhist amulets, clothing and even hiking boots. However, in the latter half of 2011 the range in the flea market was drastically reduced by half, as a result of the Downtown Line, which is also the Sungei Road Metro station construction project. Presently there are about 240 stalls available and each stall is also limited by its products’ range which was delineated be the Environment Bureau. Although the location has been reduced by nearly half of its orginal size, the crowds still remain undeterred and continue to pour to this area.
Interestingly, the vendors are of different races. The customers are mostly locals or expatriate workers and tourists. The world tourism bible Lonely Planet has published in 2010 that the 2 most exotic places in Singapore are Sungei Road flea market and the other is Haw Par Villa. The book also regards the Sungei Road flea market as a weird place in squeaky clean Singapore.（■Singapore360°）
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About us：
- Address: Sungei Road Singapore 208785