“Maybe after a four-hour concert, people get tired and they want to go home,” said Mr Andy Han, owner of sports bar Bar Soccer.
“And the concert demographic being younger females, a soccer bar isn’t a place that they want to go.”
He added that other concerts like Coldplay’s have a higher average age and relatively more male attendees, which meant better business for his establishment.
While the week Coldplay played here in January saw an increase in sales by fourfold compared to a non-event week, Swift’s concerts only gave the bar a twofold boost.
Swift’s concert was also underwhelming for darts and karaoke bar Good Cheer at Stadium, which saw patronage fall by about 40 to 50 per cent.
Bar regulars simply did not want to contend with the large crowds and lack of parking and went to other bars away from the area instead, said one staff member. “Good Cheer is a darts bar, so it is probably not the right target audience,” he added.
Another business that was battered by the throngs of Swift fans was a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic at the mall, which saw a 50 per cent fall in appointments over the past week.
Citing similar reasons such as clients being unwilling to be stuck in traffic jams or jostle with the crowd, a staff member at Kin Teck Tong TCM Clinic said such disruptions have become more common due to the regular large-scale events following the pandemic.
BOOM FOR BEADS, CRAFTS AND APPAREL BUSINESSES
In contrast, it was boomtown for businesses that sell apparel and craft worn by Swifties, which experienced impressive sales in the lead-up and during the course of Swift’s six-day concert.
At Bugis Street, several shops that sold sequinned apparel often worn by Swift concertgoers experienced a revenue boost, even though their businesses traditionally catered to an older crowd.
