Cold Storage is a

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 ...

an multinational supermarket company currently owned by Macrovalue. Its parent company also operates Market Place stores, now branded as Cold Storage Fresh, as well as the

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

hypermarket brand, and has various other supermarkets around

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

including

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

and Wellcome. Founded in 1903 as the Singapore Cold Storage Company, Cold Storage was one of the first supermarkets in

to offer its merchandise online in 1997. The number of regular customers has since grown from 6,000 in 1998, to more than 15,000 in 2012. In 1992, DFI purchased the company. SGS has awarded a

HACCP Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological hazard, biological, chemical hazard, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished ...

certification to Cold Storage, for its quality and integrity in food safety. As of 2025, Cold Storage operates 45 stores in

, located across the country in city centre, affluent suburbs and HDB (public housing) estates.

History

Early years

Established in 1903 in

, Cold Storage started as a small depot storing and selling mainly frozen meat. Cold Storage was then known as the Singapore Cold Storage Company, and was the main manufacturer of ice in

. Taking advantage of the booming ice manufacturing and refrigeration business, Cold Storage ventured into the

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

business. In 1923, a small factory was set up at the Borneo Wharf of the Harbourfront district to manufacture ice cream under the Paradise brand. In its early days, the company's primary concern was to have a quick and profitable turnover of its imported meats and range of products. Cold Storage later shifted from counter-service to self-service, introducing the supermarket to Singapore.

Tropical dairy farm

In 1937, Cold Storage founded the world's first tropical dairy farm at the Bukit Timah district of

, which aimed to produce fresh pasteurised milk. This farm, then known as the Singapore Dairy Farm, was situated inside what is now the

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (abbreviation: BTNR) is a nature reserve near the geographic centre of Singapore, located on the slopes of Bukit Timah Hill, the country's highest natural peak standing at a height of approximately , and parts of ...

. It kept as many as 800 cows. Pasteurised milk produced at the farm was packaged in pyramid-shaped cartons and sold under the brand

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

. By 1974, the farm was planned to be redeveloped into a residential area. Cold Storage is the Singapore's oldest established supermarket operator. It was the first supermarket in

to receive the CaseTrust Mark introduced by the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) in 1998 which identifies companies that receive a high degree of consumer confidence. It was also the first supermarket in Singapore to receive MUIS certification for its supermarket operations at Causeway Point in Woodlands, thus providing

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s with the assurance of

Halal ''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...

purchases.

Recent years

In 1973, Cold Storage's Pasaraya Malaysia, a joint venture of Cold Storage's subsidiary Supermarkets Malaysia and "Malaysian interests" was responsible for the construction of Jaya Supermarket in

Petaling Jaya Petaling Jaya (), colloquially referred to as "PJ", is a city in Petaling District, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Originally developed as a Satellite city, satellite township for Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, it is part of the G ...

, set to be completed in April 1974. In 1985, Cold Storage Malaysia opened its first Majik Market store in Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur, It operated under a franchise from Mumford Inc of Atlanta, USA, which complements its existing Jaya Supermarket chain but differ in concept and management. Due to competition from

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

, whose Malaysian franchise was then operated by the Antah Holdings group, Cold Storage Malaysia phased out Majik Market as part of its streamlining process. Cold Storage Malaysia, along with Peremba, Gaya Timur and Jusco were responsible for the initial version of Jaya Jusco "superstores" in 1985, with three stores in Dayabumi, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Subang Jaya. In 1987, Cold Storage Malaysia, which had been through a difficult financial phase in the previous three years, had a change in management with some senior executives leaving. In 1992,

DFI Retail Group DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited (formerly known as Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited) is a Hong Kong–based retail company with legal bases in Bermuda and Singapore. A subsidiary of the Jardine Matheson, Jardine Matheson Group, it i ...

purchased the company, although no major changes were made to the Cold Storage brand. Cold Storage started the Fresh Food Distribution Centre in

in 1999, a composite multi-temperature warehousing for fresh and

frozen food Freezing food Food preservation, preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing foo ...

distribution. In 2023,

divested its Malaysian food retailing business (including Cold Storage brand in that country) to Macrovalue Sdn Bhd. In 2025, DFI Retail Group sold the Singaporean food retailing business (including Cold Storage brand) to Macrovalue Pte Ltd.

Brands

Private labels

Cold Storage supermarkets sell products from DFI's Meadows and Yu Pin King private labels.

Cold Storage Fresh and Mercató

Cold Storage Fresh (formerly Market Place, Jasons and Jasons Deli) in

, Mercató was formerly known as Jasons Food Hall and had started business in 1975. Now, It operates five stores in

Giant

, a subsidiary of Cold Storage, is one of the largest players of the retail industry in

as well as in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, having over 85 branches spread throughout the country. It was founded by the Teng family in 1944. Prices at

are significantly cheaper than at Cold Storage.

Shop N Save

Dairy Farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

Singapore acquired Shop N Save in 2003, 35 stores from QAF and Belgian retailer, Delhaize. It was a former discount supermarket chain in Singapore, operating 50 stores located across the island in HDB estates and suburban malls. It sells a range of cheap products and fresh food. In 2013, it was merged with

Notes and references

External links

Official Website
{{Singapore supermarkets 1903 establishments in Singapore Supermarkets of Singapore Retail companies established in 1903 Singaporean brands