Tampines 1

Tampines 1 is the newest mall among the trio. (Tampines Mall and Century Square) it’s always my preference over the other two. Even though it’s smaller than Tampines Mall, this mall has more interesting varieties such as good eating restaurants and supermarkets including a Japanese one.
This mall is less crowded than Tampines Mall and Century Square is pretty boring even through its been upgraded not too long ago. One advantage that both malls have over Tampines 1 is they both have cinemas but that doesn’t matter.
If you come to Tampines to walk around, leave this mall for the last, you won’t be disappointed!

This mall is close to the hotel that I stayed at. I must declare there is good food here and there are kick ass shops that you don’t see in other countries. XD Uniqlo is here which makes the mall a favorite place to shop. This place is MRT friendly because all you do is get off the MRT and go inside. Bought a few snacks at Yamakawa and now it is long gone ever since I went back to Singapore in December 2012

I blame Tampines 1 sometimes for my boyfriend not coming to town more often.
But i can understand why. This mall has almost everything to offer, from clothes (Uniqlo/​Topshop/​Dorothy Perkins) to a Cold Storage, and even Japanese speciality stores, that makes traveling to shop in Orchard road a hassle.
And throw in a couple of restaurants like Sushi Tei, Thai Express, Dian Xiao Er, you have everything you need conveniently located.

Tampines 1 is one of the three malls located conveniently near the Tampines MRT station.
My mother coins Tampines shopping area as the eastern Orchard Road. Reason being, it’s always crowded with people, even on the weekdays. During the weekends, all three malls are bustling with people and it gets really noisy at times.
What I like about Tampines 1 is that there are a whole lot of varieties of food outlets and a decent number of shops dedicated for the shoppaholics like me. Firstly, I’m so glad that there is a shop selling all the Japanese tidbits and stuffs. Located outside the ball at the basement, the shop is so popular that I’ve seen queues that extended outside of it!
I love the mall decorations when it comes to festivals like Christmas and even Lantern Festival. The atrium is always filled with activities and I must say, compared to the other adjacent two malls, Tampines 1 is quieter and less rowdy in terms of customers frequenting the shop.

I prefer this mall compared to the other ones in the area — as it is — Tampines is crowded enough — so when I first heard about the opening of another mall — I was skeptical — I mean, do we really need any more commercialised randonmess in this town? But this mall has really proved to be something else. Shops look cooler, there’s Topman!
What I Love: Apart from having the first (yes, the frst) Topman outta the more Central areas of the country, I feel like it just looks aesthetically more pleasing. There’s a little fountain thing in the basement — the shops there are great — Urban Write, Rive Gauche, Emi Cakes, and they do give really good customer service. The ladies at Rive Gauche know me so well, they always strike up conversations when they see me passing by. Even when you walk on the first floor — it always smells sooo nice. And the ambiance is little more high end. It feels good!
What I Don’t Love: Getting a taxi from this mall is a nightmare at times. Might be easier at Tampines Mall. I once waited 15 – 20 mins and gave up anyway! There used to be a Soya House there — and their service sucked — glad they are not there anymore!

Of the 3 malls in Tampines, this is the atas upmarket one. It has all the fancy brands that you will find in town and a good concentration of Japanese and Korean specialty shops. For some reason everytime we come to the far East, we always end up at Tampines 1 instead of the other malls, drawn by our favourite foods.
But really it is the attention to detail by the mall management that is impressive. Rental of wheelchairs and umbrellas are normal these days but there is even a mobile phone charging station and free internet terminals. If your phone batt is dead, head down to the basement 1 info counter and there are 8 lockers for people to charge their phone.

For people who live in the east, Tampines is definitely where all the action is! In Tampines central itself, there are three malls, namely Tampines 1, Tampines Mall and Century Square. Tampines 1 has recently revamped itself, and packed with lots of goodies for all of us! For a Japanese goods sucker like me, having Daiso, Muji, Yamakawa Super, Yamazaki Bakery, and Sushi Tei all packed into one mall is like a dream come true! I can get all my Japanese food cravings fixed, with just one stop. The mall has also recently added a water playground on the top floor, making this mall a child friendly place as well (there is dedicated floor for children products). Whatever your need or interest is, this mall definitely has something in store for you! On the down side, there are limited banking services and no postage services. Nonetheless, an exciting hangout at the east side of Singapore!