It’s more than just music for Swee Lee. The brand began as a pure distribution business back in the day with only a few showrooms, but quickly evolved to meet current needs after current Managing Director Kuok Meng Ru acquired the business in 2012. With the new flagship store in Star Vista, they’re heading closer towards making their new vision a reality, which means good news for consumers.
While retail wasn’t the core priority before the acquisition, Meng said during our interview with him for our birthday issue: “The vision changed when we took over and being far more focused on supporting musicians at every step of their journey, and being able to offer something for everyone— whether it’s your first guitar or your 100th music lesson. It’s important for us to empower our customers, and we work hard on this every day.”
Enter the new flagship store—spanning across 5,000 sq. ft., which is about three times the original store that closed earlier this month, it’ll be the go-to for musicians of any level and music fans everywhere. There’s everything you’ll possibly need—a broader range of instruments, DJ gear, audio equipment and music accessories that will spoil you for choice, as well as a new section for fashion apparel and accessories from the likes of Superga, Happy Socks, B&O Play, Timex and Tiger Onitsuka; just to name a few.
Keeping in line with creating a music lifestyle experience for consumers, there’ll also be opportunities to host live performances right in the middle of the store (the furniture here are not stuck to the ground for versatility). And with the Star Theatre just a couple of floors up, who knows; they might even host a meet-and-greet with your favorite artist.
A bigger store space also means an expanded academy. There are five teaching rooms where you can pick up guitar, bass, ukulele or drums, and they’re led by esteemed instructors like Aaron (local band Wolf & The Moon), Oliver (co-produced for singer-songwriters Abby Simone and Jo Potter) and Rosli Mansor (renowned local guitar maestro). You might even have the chance to perform at Star Vista’s atrium in one of Swee Lee’s monthly programmes.
Also new is Swee Lee Social Club, an in-store cafe where you can just chill with a nice cup of coffee (beans are from Common Man Coffee Roasters), some snacks or ice-cream (courtesy of Island Creamery). It could very well be your new meeting point before heading upstairs to watch a gig, or for you to grab something light after your classes.
With the new drum-focused store that opened earlier this year and the integration of the digital aspects of music, we’re confident that Swee Lee is on its way to become the be-all and end-all for music and musicians in Singapore.
Swee Lee Star Vista Lifestyle Store is located at #01-07/08/09/10 The Star Vista, 1 Vista Exchange Green, and operates daily from 10am-10pm.
