SHOP-CAFE.

The term has been fleshed out too many times by businesses with half-baked shopping and dining components - and, as a result, no staying power. But get the formula right and a double-barrelled retail concept can be a good way to capture an audience in a competitive market, say those who have done so successfully.

Take House, for example. The two-and-a-half-year-old Dempsey store added a beauty-product emporium to its space about six months ago, making it one of the largest retail-dining outlets in Singapore. Since then, sales have been brisk and business at its dining component, Barracks, has gone up by 'roughly 25 to 30 per cent', says Janet Lim, group public relations manager for the Spa Esprit Group, which owns House.

The business owes its success to the fact that 'each component is strong', she observes. 'Each has to be capable enough to stand on its own - there is no point being a cafe and providing substandard nail products, for example, because modern consumers are very discerning.'

For Tea Cosy, offering niche products is part of the key to its staying power. The four-year-old establishment at Plaza Singapura sells angel figurines and quirky furniture alongside its cafe offerings such as laksa pasta and pan-fried foie gras.

'We have a lot of angel-buying regular customers who come here and say it's nice to be able to get a gift and have a good meal at the same time,' says Daphne Lee, Tea Cosy's owner. She adds: 'When it comes to this kind of business, the question is: What kind of concept are you trying to push? It helps if you are unique and there's no other shop in the area which has a duplicate concept.'

As a band of new shop-cafes enters the market, BT Weekend highlights three potential winners that offer refined shopping and dining under the same roof.

A Thousand Tales 55 Haji Lane
Tel 6298-0838
www.athousandtales.com
Cafe to open in June

AS the name implies, everything in A Thousand Tales tells a story. Whether it's the well-chosen selection of retro furniture or outre art pieces from the artist Sumio Suzuki, this eclectic treasure trove is stocked not with commercial appeal in mind but rather the hearts and minds of its owners.

In fact, nothing about the store follows the conventional rules of retail dictating that products are meant to be sold and not waxed lyrical about. Then again, A Thousand Tales isn't so much a store as it is a reflection of its owners and their passions.

'We're a bunch of good friends who love beautiful things and lifestyle,' says co-owner Sandra Chu of herself and her two partners. The three woman are from the architecture and financial sectors and are passionate about art and design. Two of them are also avid cooks, which explains why they're opening a gastrobar in the middle of the year. 'We don't make commercial decisions here,' says Ms Chu. 'It's solely about passion - or foolishness, depending on how you look at it!'

She may be being modest, as the store opened in January with a solid business model behind it. Last May, the trio started a core business of manufacturing mid-century Scandinavian furniture designs upholstered in high-end fabrics (Jim Thompson, Donghia and more). One of its customers was Tea Cosy at Plaza Singapura, which bought its designs to sell.

At the same time, they found their current Haji Lane premises, but it took six months before they could complete their renovations and move in. Meanwhile, their client base continued to grow, with the bar Klee and upscale karaoke outfit K-Suites just some of the places now showcasing their designs.

With business booming, Ms Chu and her partners have taken over the second floor of the neighbouring shophouse for their gastrobar, which will serve a regular menu 'highlighting a variety of unforgettable - in a good way - meals replicated from our travels'.

However, if there are private functions on the side, then upcoming chefs will get a chance to showcase their skills and earn some money in the process. 'We don't want to be just another restaurant, we want something more vibrant than that,' says Ms Chu. 'What we aim for is to get people to live the experience here and leave with good memories and a nice warm feeling.'

She is quick to add though, that nothing is set in concrete. As a storyteller embellishes his stories to make them come alive, so A Thousand Tales is growing organically. 'We're not about one fixed idea; we'd like to call it work in progress. Maybe the next time you come down, this will be a circus!'

Marxx & Arteastiq Tea Lounge
#04-14 Mandarin Gallery
333A Orchard Road
Tel 6235-8705

THE people behind contemporary European furniture house Marxx and its in-store tea lounge Arteastiq know their audience pretty well since they own the longstanding interior design firm Haier Living at Amoy Street. Which is why they've opened a tea lounge within their new store.

'As a styling house, we understand that when it comes to buying things like wallpaper, people need time to consider,' says Vanessa Chow, retail manager of the boutique, which stocks brands such as Le Crin and Designers Guild. 'So, we wanted to provide a space for them to think it over before they make the purchase.'

It's a canny tactic, because the tea lounge - which takes up about a third of the 3,000 square foot store and is tucked away behind the showroom bit - is kitted out in items from Marxx and shows them off to great effect.

Against a backdrop of floor-to-ceiling glass windows that look out of Mandarin Gallery, pretty chairs upholstered in jewel hues and plush sofas are set around pillars wrapped in romantically-patterned wallpaper, like a scene from a sleeker, cleaner version of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (it's just a pity the tables are an annoying knee-height).

Here, you can eat cake too, along with other fare such as 'teasers' of smoked salmon ($7.90), crabmeat salad ($8.90) and specially imported probiotic wraps (which admittedly don't sound very yummy, but actually are; try the ones with wagyu beef slices or homely curry chicken priced from $5.90). It's easy-to-prepare stuff - 'we don't want cooking to be done here because of the furniture', explains Ms Chow - but everything's nicely done and delicately presented, with the recipes coming from Arteastiq's consultant chef Thomas Chiam who helms the Friends group of restaurants.

The cafe doesn't let down the 'tea lounge' bit of its name either - it serves a wide range of excellent teas that it gets from premium tea shop Tea Bone Zen Mind. Presented on pretty trays, these include fruit and floral flavours, as well as a range of alcoholic teas (think Choya pineapple tea, Cointreau pera tea and more) that are available after 5pm. Prices are from $11. 'There are so many coffee places around; we wanted to be different,' says Ms Chow on the focus on tea.

Fortunately for the rest of us who aren't decorating new homes, the 32-seat Arteastiq is open to the public as well, and it's a pleasant respite from the Orchard Road buzz.

The next time a certain tea lounge at Takashimaya gets too packed, just pop over to Mandarin Gallery instead.

Octa Hotel
#01-39, Parco Marina Bay
Millenia Walk 9 Raffles Boulevard
www.octahotel.com
To open March 31

UNLIKE its name suggests, Octa Hotel does not provide lodgings but a shopping and dining experience. And although its concept is of a French hideaway in Paris' 8th Arrondissement, the business is run by a Japanese company. But, whatever. If there's anyone who can pull off a concept like that, it's the Japanese. The people behind Octa Hotel are not newbies either as they've been successful in Japan for the past 20 years - the first Octa Hotel opened in Fukuoka in 1989 and there are now more than 20 branches in the country.

By the end of this month, Singaporeans will be able to experience this unique concept too. The company is launching its first overseas outlet here - a 1,400 sq ft space at Parco Marina Bay, which will encompass an apparel and lifestyle goods retail component as well as a cafe that serves Japanese-style French food.

Says its director Madoka Kino, whose father founded the business: 'We want to enrich the lifestyle of the Singapore people. With Octa Hotel, they can not only enjoy the taste of the sweets in the cafe, but also the taste of the fashion at the same time.'

The concept of the store, she explains, was derived from the Japanese admiration of the French culture. 'The Japanese love the fashion, craftsmanship and cuisine of the French, so we developed this to let people enjoy the whole lifestyle.'

What that lifestyle means in Octa-speak is food such as the brand's signature French toast that's served with ice cream and fresh fruit, along with croissants, cheese souffles and croque madame all of which will be cooked by a chef from Japan. Meanwhile, on the non-edible side of things, there are in-house-designed apparel, accessories, bags and homewares that make up about 50 per cent of its retail offerings. The other half, says Ms Kino, is mostly imported from Europe. In line with the hotel theme (which is meant to 'make shoppers feel at home'), the shop resembles a small Parisian hotel.

The cafe's tables and chairs are set around the 'lobby' as well as on a mock veranda, and the cashier counter is made to look like an old-fashioned hotel key counter, with wooden pigeonholes for keys behind the counter.

Setting up in Singapore is a long-time wish fulfilled for Ms Kino and her family, she says. 'We visited Singapore 10 years ago and we liked the place. Since then, we've dreamed about opening a shop-cafe here.' And that may only be the beginning - if Octa is 'appreciated by the Singapore people, we will look to expand into the region', she says.

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This article was first published in The Business Times.