Orchard Road packed

Some 40,000 tourists in town for F1 race go on shopping spree at malls.

By Gracia Chiang

The F1 tourists are in town and Mr Dan Koh is in a race to serve them.

Since Friday, the 32-year-old sales staff member at Italian men's boutique Ermenegildo Zegna has been dashing about the Paragon branch, sometimes attending to more than one customer at a time.

He has been so busy that lunch has had to be pushed back from noon to 3pm. 'We've to be a lot faster in checking stocks and packaging items. We are seeing almost double the number of people coming compared to the last few weekends,' he said yesterday, looking frazzled.

Marina area deserted

Local shoppers stay away, while tourists are there strictly for race

By Nur Dianah Suhaimi

Business was in first gear at the normally busy Suntec City mall yesterday afternoon.

The shop tills were not ringing, sales assistants were standing around looking bored and at Carrefour supermarket, the aisles were almost empty.

'It has been this way since Sept 23,' said Ms Irene Foo, who rents two pushcarts where she sells perfumes and essential oils. 'Saturdays are usually busy but I haven't sold anything today.'

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