TANGS is a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...

located on

Orchard Road Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major –long road in the Central Area of Singapore. Known as a famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area of Singapore, with numerous internationally renowned depa ...

in Singapore, owned by C.K. Tang Limited. The store is regarded as a principal shopping destination in the city, comparable to

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a di ...

in New York City and

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

in London. The company was founded by

Tang Choon Keng Tang Choon Keng (; 12 September 1901 – 3 September 2000), colloquially known as CK Tang, was a Singaporean entrepreneur, who founded the Tangs department store in Singapore. Tang established Orchard Road as a premier retail district in Sing ...

in 1932.

History

C.K. Tang, the founder, migrated from China and began his business from a provisional store in 1932. CK Tang's first stores were on

River Valley Road River Valley is a planning area located within the Central Area of the Central Region of Singapore. The planning area shares boundaries with Orchard in the north, Museum in the east, Tanglin in the west and Singapore River in the south. Etymol ...

, but in the 1950s, he purchased land on Orchard Road as he noticed that the expatriates from the Holland Village area would travel down this road to go downtown. When CK Tang bought the land, it was situated opposite a Chinese cemetery, which, under cultural conventions, was perceived to bring bad luck. TANGS is credited with sparking the transformation of the area into Singapore's most famous shopping district. In 1982, C.K. Tang purchased the adjacent Tang Plaza, which currently houses the Singapore Marriott Hotel. In the late 1980s and early 1990s one of CK Tang's sons, Tang Wee Sung took control of the store. He went on to become chairman of the company in 2000 after his father's death, and his appointment gave rise to changed operating policies, such as permitting the store to remain open on Sundays and introducing marketing strategies to increase consumer choice. In 2012, TANGS announced an S$45 million, three-year transformation plan to its flagship store on Orchard Road.

Architecture

The building form was influenced by traditional Chinese culture and architecture, modeled after the Palaces in the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

. The color scheme of C.K. Tang building mimics a traditional imperial palace, with the green roof tiles symbolizing the notion of growth and prosperity, the yellow facade symbolizing the color of royalty, and red columns representing happiness. The design follows the Chinese belief of ‘ feng-shui’, a traditional Chinese philosophical system, which is prominent in the octagonal decorations consistent all over the building. The eight-sided shape is auspicious as the number ‘8’, pronounced as ‘fa´ in Chinese dialect implies prosperity. Apart from the visually prominent octagonal roof form of the tower, there are several other instances of octagonal designs all over the building. These include the floor tiling, column base and ceiling decorations, and railings. Other features like the distinctive ‘artichoke leaf’ or ‘xie-shan’ roof, designed to repel rain as well as allow wind circulation within the structure. The ridges of the roofs are aligned with figures of miniature mythical creatures which is a symbolism of formidableness in Chinese culture, along with the stone statues of lions up-front. Prior to its 2012 transformation, TANGS occupied and boasted five selling floors, designed by New York-based Hambrecht Terrell International, noted for its work with Saks Fifth Avenue and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

Expansion

VivoCity

In 2006, TANGS opened as an anchor tenant at shopping mall

VivoCity VivoCity is a shopping mall located in the HarbourFront precinct of Bukit Merah, Singapore. It is the largest shopping mall in Singapore, with of net lettable area and of gross floor area spread over a three-storey shopping complex and t ...

. TANGS VivoCity occupies approximately of retail space.

Malaysia

Tangs marked its return to the Malaysian market with a store within Pavilion KL in 2007. The store has since relocated to 1 Utama, this was followed by new locations in

Subang Jaya Subang Jaya is a city in Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. It comprises the southern third district of Petaling. It consists of the neighbourhoods from SS12 to SS19, UEP Subang Jaya (USJ), Putra Heights, Batu Tiga as well as PJS7, PJS ...

( Empire Subang), and subsequent openings at

Genting Highlands Genting Highlands is a hill station located on the peak of Mount Ulu Kali in the Titiwangsa Mountains, central Peninsular Malaysia, at 1,800 metres elevation. Located in the state of Pahang. It was established in 1965 by the late Chinese busines ...

(

First World Plaza First World Hotel & Plaza is a hotel, shopping and entertainment complex located at Resorts World Genting in Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia which consists of a 3.3-star out of 5 for cleanliness hotel and a plaza. First World Hotel, Resort ...

) and

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has bee ...

. Tangs once again withdraws from Malaysia in 2020, with the branches at Subang Jaya and Genting Highlands renamed as Galeries Voir, the Malacca branch renamed as Best Value Outlet, while the 1 Utama branch closed down.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.tangs.com/ 1932 establishments in Singapore Department stores of Malaysia Department stores of Singapore Shopping malls in Singapore Singaporean brands