Robinsons Department Store, is located at Centrepoint in Orchard Road. It is owned by listed retailer Robinsons and Company and the flagship store of the company, housing its corporate office.
History
Originally known as Spicer and Robinson, it was founded in 1858 by Philip Robinson, an immigrant from Australia and James Gaborian Spicer, a former keeper of Singapore Jail. It started as a family warehouse at Commercial Square, now known as Raffles Place, and was renamed Robinson and Company at the end of 1859 when Spicer left the business and a new partner, George Rappa, was brought in.
By 1881, it was a dominant store among the European community in Singapore. It moved several times before re-locating back to Raffles Place in 1891 and became a limited company in 1920. It was twice hit by bombs during World War II and was closed during the Japanese Occupation.
When the British returned to Singapore in 1945, the Robinson's building served as the headquarters of Naafi and Ensa, the Allied services entertainment organisation. It resumed trade in 1946, and took over John Little in 1955. In 1957, it had a facelift that earned it the name "handsomest shop in the Far East".
Its landmark building at Raffles Place was destroyed by an infamous fire in 1972, killing nine people and destroying S$21million worth of property. It relocated to Specialists' Centre in Orchard Road as a result, and thereafter have been the anchor tenant in Centrepoint since 1983. The company opened another new S$30 million store at Raffles City targeted at the trendy young in March 2001.
Author
Peter Yew Guan Pak
References
Brazil, D. (1991). Street smart: Singapore. Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 BRA)
Tyers, R. (1993). Ray Tyers' Singapore: then and now. Singapore: Landmark Books.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TYE)
Robinsons rocks; It's Worth Waiting For. (2001, March 15). The Straits Times, Life! Cover Story, pp. 1, 6.
Robinsons Singapore. (n.d.). Robinson and Company, Limited. Retrieved January 25, 2005, from http://www.robinsons.com.sg/company.asp
The information in this article is valid as at 2001 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
