photoS: ST, REUTERS, AdobeStock. Photo illustration: gareth chung, bt
The Business Times has put together the developments behind the state of affairs plaguing the mall along the prime Orchard Road area.
JUL 21
OG announces closure of its flagship store at 160 Orchard Road after an 18-year run. It says:
photo: KUA CHEE SIONG, ST
OG Orchard Point officially shuts its doors.
Hao Corp opens Taste Orchard, a food-centric mall occupying over 150,000 sq ft.
A video on TikTok displaying empty shelves and freezers in Eccelente goes viral, with the user questioning how the grocery store is able to stay afloat in such conditions in a prime Orchard Road location.
FEBRUARY
september
Eccellente ceases to occupy the basement of Taste Orchard.
photo: paige lim, bt
photo: paige lim, bt
Visit to mall by BT reveals vacant units on levels 1, 3 and 4.
PHOTO: TAY CHU YI, BT
2024
2025
[SINGAPORE] Taste Orchard was once touted as an innovative and exciting new offering. But the promising new foodie haunt served up by supermarket chain Hao Mart very quickly grounded to a halt.
Accusations and counter claims flew thick and fast between the landlord, tenant and the leasing agent, after OG terminated its lease with Hao Mart in September.
Even as the home-grown supermarket operator sued PropNex unit and its leasing agent, it was also slapped with a multi-million dollar lawsuit by the landlord.
photo: TAY CHU YI, BT
2022
The following is a timeline of key milestones under Gupta:
2010
2014
2009
Additional reporting by Paige Lim, Tay Peck Gek
Complaints of snacks being stale are detailed in the caption. It also notes an instance of customers receiving whole bottle(s) of sukiyaki soup stock for free.
Anchor tenant and grocery operator Eccellente by Hao Mart occupies three floors.
Products in this unit had moved to Level 2, according to the business.
Smaller tenants complain of low footfall and dismal sales. Some businesses left before their leases ended. One was Chirashi King Kong, which pulled out after six months; Tea Chimes took over their three-year lease.
A spokesperson for Hao Mart says it is “actively working” to fill empty spaces in the mall.
Ad hoc events – such as gaming zones and flea markets – aim to draw shoppers and raise footfall traffic.
A new store focusing on groceries and fresh produce will take its place.
Hao Mart signed a 7.5 year lease for all five levels of the building previously.
Cites action by OG as “premature” and “wrongful.”
Supermarket chain notes sum claimed amounts to five months of rent, where it was unable to fully operate its business. This is in light of PropNex Tan’s misrepresentation, it argues.
Other counter claims included interest, costs and damages to be reassessed, as per the counter document seen by BT.
Hao Mart files counter claim against OG; flags loss it suffered of nearly S$3.5 million in rent.
Nov 19
OCTOBER
APRIL
20,000 sq ft basement unit of Taste Orchard lists on property website CommercialGuru at a rental rate of S$180,000 per month.
Four other units in the building also listed – at rates of S$9,700 to S$24,000 per month.
No such units of Taste Orchard were found online as at September 2025, however.
JUN 25
JULY
A timeline of the Hao Mart-OG saga
AUGUST
Hao Mart files lawsuit against PropNex Realty, a unit of real estate company PropNex, and one of its agents for over S$3.5 million.
Company accuses real estate unit of “misrepresentation” in the leasing of Taste Orchard.
The Aug 29 statement of claim accuses agent Michael Tan of telling Hao Mart director Dr Tan Kim Yong that Tan would undertake fiduciary duties for the supermarket operator in leasing the building as a middleman.
Both PropNex and Tan deny these allegations. They add that they are not liable to losses incurred by Hao Mart.
SEPTEMBER
Landlord OG terminates Hao Mart’s lease for all five levels of Taste Orchard.
Hao Mart and all sub-tenants are expected to vacate by Dec 31 this year.
An Asian minimart opened a few days before the termination announcement, sources say.
BHC Chicken – which Hao Mart owns the master franchise rights for – closed Taste Orchard outlet on Sep 16.
OCT 18
A settlement agreement is proposed by Hao Mart to Taste Orchard tenants.
Avista Advisory Partners, on behalf of Hao Mart, asks sub-tenants for details and supporting documents of their unamortised capital expenses to fit out their stores.
The firm’s e-mail seen by BT adds that tenants need to mitigate the (unamortised) amounts by making “genuine efforts to salvage, sell or reuse the items” as much as they could.
Security deposits would be refunded to tenants within two months from Dec 31, or the extended period of Mar 31, 2026, as per their tenancy agreements.
A Taste Orchard tenant told BT that Hao Mart’s offer was “unsatisfactory,” considering how no compensation was on the table for the lack of business amid low footfall levels.
OCT 21
Landlord OG issues a letter of demand to Hao Mart for about S$6.6 million
The breakdown of the amount demanded by OG as at Oct 1, based on court documents seen by BT:
S$5.6 million in principal arrears for rent
S$426,299 in property tax increases
S$366,699 in principal arrears for charges
S$178,857 in accrued interest thus far
Additionally, the landlord says it seeks to claim interest of 12 per cent per annum (calculated daily, and mesne profits*) – or effectively double the rent – from Hao Mart till the space is handed over, as per the lease agreement from Oct 21.
OCT 21
Landlord OG reveals supermarket chain failed to pay rent of about S$9.3 million at Taste Orchard.
Rent due for the period is from Jan 17, 2024 to Nov 1, 2024, according to court documents seen by BT.
OG claims that it has made demands for payment on four different occasions – Jul 19, Aug 7, Aug 21 and Oct 10 – in 2024, but has not received payment.
Landlord receives around S$10.3 million from Hao Mart around Dec 23, 2024, however. This is in addition to S$2.2 million from UOB on Jun 11 this year under a letter of guarantee issued to the landlord. OG says these two sums are for damages, not rent arrears.
The supermarket operator gets six weeks to “vacate and surrender” the premises before end-December 2024.
*Mesne profits: The profits of an estate received by a tenant in wrongful possession and recoverable by the landlord.
PHOTO: TAY CHU YI, BT
Cites action by OG as “premature” and “wrongful.”
Supermarket chain notes sum claimed amounts to five months of rent, where it was unable to fully operate its business. This is in light of PropNex Tan’s misrepresentation, it argued.
Other counter claims included interest, costs and damages to be reassessed, as per the counter document seen by BT.
Hao Mart files counter claim against OG; flags loss it suffered of nearly S$3.5 million in rent.
Nov 19
OG Orchard Point officially shuts its doors.
OCTOBER
photo: KUA CHEE SIONG, ST
Queues form outside OG's store at 160 Orchard Road a day after the announcement of its closure.
photo: COMMERCIALGURU
Another unit at 160 Orchard Road was seen by BT listed for S$22,000 per month on CommercialGuru.