Funan DigitaLife Mall, formerly Funan The IT Mall and Funan Centre, was a

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

formerly located near the Civic District in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Completed in 1985, the mall specialised in

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

and IT-related goods. It was a more upmarket competitor of Sim Lim Square, the latter of which catered more to those seeking more budget purchases. It was closed and demolished in 2016.

History

The mall opened in January 1985 as Funan Centre as a general shopping centre, which provided more options for shoppers to shop at other than Orchard Road. In the early 90s, the mall began to attract a critical mass of electronic and IT retailers over the years. Its main and long-time anchor tenant is Challenger Superstore, a major homegrown IT store established in 1984. In 1992, the mall was refurbished. It later adopted the name Funan The IT Mall in 1997 to reflect its current focus on IT related outlets. In 2005, the mall received minor upgrades, and was again renamed to Funan DigitaLife Mall. There were a total of 178 outlets spread over six floors. Challenger Superstore occupied almost the entirety of the sixth floor, and was accompanied by another anchor tenants such as

Harvey Norman Harvey Norman is an Australian multinational retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned by ASX-lis ...

in the other floors.

Decline and revamp

Due to the popularity of online shopping, business at the mall had been declining over the past few years, forcing tenants to close down. The mall was initially planned to be renovated in 2014. However, it was later slated for demolition. The last day of mall operation was 30 June 2016. All tenants have since relocated and the building was later demolished. The new commercial building whose name was stripped down to

Funan Funan (; , ; , Chữ Hán: ; ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Khmer-Mon Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''( Mandala)''—located in Mainland Southeast Asia covering ...

was being built on its former site. The new commercial building would have a 24-hour drive-thru, underground walkway to

City Hall MRT station City Hall MRT station is an underground Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore), Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South MRT line, North–South line (NSL) and East West MRT line, East–West line (EWL). Situated in t ...

, The Adelphi Lifestyle Mall and Capitol Theatre. It also would have serviced apartments and offices as well. Originally slated to be reopened in 2020, the building was re-opened earlier than the scheduled reopening date on 28 June 2019.

Gallery

File:Funan DigitaLife Mall 5.JPG, Funan Digitalife Mall File:Funan Digitalife Mall, Dec 05.JPG, Funan Digitalife Mall by night. File:Funan mall.JPG, Funan Digitalife Mall Interior File:Funan Digitalife Mall Interior, Dec 05.JPG File:Funan Mall int.JPG

Transportation

The nearest MRT Station to Funan DigtaLife Mall is

(NS25/EW13).

References

External links

* {{Singapore malls CapitaLand 1985 establishments in Singapore 2016 disestablishments in Singapore Buildings and structures demolished in 2016 Demolished buildings and structures in Singapore Downtown Core (Singapore) Electronics districts Shopping malls established in 1985 Shopping malls disestablished in 2016 Shopping malls in Singapore