ION Orchard, located at Orchard Turn, begins operations today, with 70 per cent of its 335 shops – from designer brands to gourmet food outlets – open for business.

New brand-name stores opening today include fashion label Vivienne Tam and American jeweller Harry Winston.

But aside from the high-end fashion retailers, there are many new speciality stores as well.

A new concept to Singapore is gourmet supermarket ThreeSixty Market Place, by retail group Dairy Farm, which also operates Cold Storage.

The new Market Place boasts meats like dry-aged beef to fruit from Japan, such as Hokkaido rock melons that go for $128 a pair. The supermarket also has a selection of 600 wine labels, including a $6,000 bottle of single malt whisky.

Also new is Chinese sports label Li-Ning. The flagship store here will feature sports apparel and equipment, including badminton racquets used by Chinese national player Lin Dan.

Besides the dizzying number of shops, shoppers can expect excellent service from the mall staff, said Ms Soon Su Lin, chief executive of ION Orchard’s developer, Orchard Turn Developments.

Most of ION’s tenants are taking part in a two-day customer- service course, sponsored and organised by the mall.

“We encourage all our tenants to take part in this programme,”  said Ms Soon at a press briefing yesterday.

Mall and service staff from various stores will get training on topics ranging from how to stand, to greeting shoppers, and the way to present themselves.

Besides engaging shoppers with the mall’s design – which includes “express” escalators which connect basement 1 to basement four, for example – and shop mix, the mall even has perks for VIPs, such as special washrooms.

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