Love Shopping Event

For the RMT Students, the weekend of 4^th and 5^th August were the glorious and memorial days that would forever be etched in their minds.  They have gone through weeks of planning and collaborating with the different social enterprises consisting of The Asian Women’s Association, Association for Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, Action for Dogs Singapore and Mother and Child Association.

The event,  “Love Shopping” was held in Changi City Point was a celebration of what is a part of a community, listening to the stories of these people who have struggled and strived to stand back on their feet and to help others. They have been an inspiration for the young, old and those who are experiencing the same circumstances.  

The toastmaster's club, together with the representatives of the four social enterprises, our teachers, parents and juniors came down to support us. A fun packed day of program was lined up for the shoppers in Changi City Point.

At the same time, there were a few others ongoing such as the “Five Stones” game pioneered by the AWWA team and the colouring activity by the ASD team. If you were lucky enough, you would probably get the chance to meet our lovable and huggable mascots – the teddy bear and Snoopy dog.

The afternoon started with a painting demonstration by the Mouth and Foot Painting artist. The fine strokes and craftsmanship performed by the artist was a stunner; many people crowd around to witness their demonstration. On each day, two artists would come down, fully equipped with their professional art equipments to showcase their talent and some of their completed art pieces. At the cashier, mounted on the spider exhibit were three art pieces painted by MFPA’s famous artists that include Mr Tan Kok Leong’s work of art.

During a specific time period, two representatives from the Asian Women’s Association who would demonstrate their sewing skills to the crowd. The patchwork designs that they have crafted with delicate hands came out beautifully. It seemed that nothing is too difficult for them to make.

Following this, an art competition was held on the stage, inviting kids to participate and flaunt their flair in the arts. As a token of appreciation, the winners were given prizes co-sponsored by Faber Castell Singapore that includes the company’s very own art sets and oil pastels.

At 6pm, the night was still young and the show has just begun when the Mother and Child team sashayed down the aisle. The apparels, designed and handmade by Mother and Child’s fashion designer, Anna was intended to be auctioned off during the event. The proceeds will go to the organization that supports single women as well as other less fortunate individuals. Not only that, the show kept going when AWWA’s star painter – Ryan and the two mascots hit the stage to boogie to the beat of Wonder Girl’s “Nobody”.

The entire event was not a matter of just completing another module throughout our polytechnic years. It was a lesson, an experience, a connection with the ones who were experiencing unfortunate circumstances, neglected and abandoned. 

When life turned for the worse, stay on and learn from the ones who scraped through. Stop and cherish the little things in life and love everyone for who they are because each one of us is special. That day, our RMT students have taken back more than what was sacrificed – love.

Love Shopping?

Love Shopping? Bring out the Shopaholic in you!

Save these dates: 4^th to 5^th August 2012

Venue: Changi City Point, Inner Court, Basement 1

Time: 10am to 10pm

Love shopping is celebration of what it is to be part of a community, to show our support and love towards the people who have changed the lives of many despite their struggles in life.

Love Shopping does not define the literal meaning of the phrase but rather the separate meaning of each word combined together. Love is interpreted as an intense feeling of deep affection for someone. As our event involves social enterprises, in this context, love is the feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, to the recipients of the social entities that we will be working with.

This event is held for the sole purpose of giving people the opportunity to shop with love to show their concern and support for the cause. As it is, there is a subtle difference in the objective of the event compared to other charity events. The event showcases the products that the social entities create, not to market it for the sake of charity but to really market the skills of the artists and the beneficiaries.

Come down with your loved ones, spread the word and shop to love. 

RMT Grooming Workshop

Felix Zemdegs from Australia is able to solve a Rubik’s Cube puzzle in 7 seconds. In that short period of time, he has also created the impression on the audience that he is, as far as we can tell, a genius with remarkably dexterous fingers. For the rest of us, those 7 seconds can also be used to create positive impressions on the people we meet, even if not of the intellectual kind. Juniors from the Diploma in Retail Management learnt how to do just that with two grooming workshops held in May.

The L’Oreal Makeup Workshop was conducted on 14 May exclusively for the female students. Although we did lament about the need to remain in school for the workshop while our male friends could leave early, some of us were probably secretly pleased to experiment with the palettes of shimmery powder and plastic tubes of creams and gels that greeted us when we entered the room. The trainer from L’Oreal shared many helpful tips on makeup applications and choosing the right colours for our skin tones. For instance, I never knew that foundation had to be applied with your ring finger and with a downward motion. Several student models were selected for the demonstrations, even those who were not known to put on makeup, which drew cheer from the rest of us. Each group was given a set of cosmetics for practice after each demonstration, where we jumped at the opportunity to ‘harass’ our friends by practising on their faces instead of our own!

And yet looking good with makeup is only the aesthetic part of leaving a good impression. On the morning of 25 May, all Juniors attended the ZA Personal Grooming workshop, which touched on etiquette and general personal grooming. We were taught the Do’s and Don’ts of creating a good impression. It soon became apparent that some of the boys were the very victims of the dressing faux pas that the trainer shared with us— trousers without a proper break, ill-fitting shirts and too-short shorts. For the girls, chipped nail polish, messy hair and VPLs topped the list of improper dressing (I will admit that I am guilty of one of these!). There was another round of demonstration, this time to show the importance of skincare. We watched intently as the ZA trainer showed us the steps of basic skincare on our friend, from cleansing to using BB Cream as the final step.

The two workshops proved to be fun and a rewarding channel from which we picked up relevant skills (the fact that they replaced our normal lectures was only a bonus). As future retailers, the importance of looking presentable cannot be undermined seeing as ‘employees embody the product and are walking billboards from a marketing standpoint.’ As an individual, looking presentable can only be considered as doing oneself a favour.

Now please excuse me while I touch up on my nails.

Credits to Simin

Collaboration with GET Singapore

GET SINGAPORE is a non-profit collective that showcases Singapore’s retail brands and merchandise by creating a platform for local retailers to feature and market their merchandise to a wider audience both in Singapore and around the world. It provides public access to well-designed, branded merchandise, including where to find them, product details and promotions. It also promotes a vibrant image of Singapore as a place where good design and innovative retail ideas exist.

GET SINGAPORE will be featured at 1^st Avenue when it re-opens on 14 May after a month of renovations. Our RMT Seniors will also be working on a branding campaign project with GET SINGAPORE.

Some of the brands showcased in 1^st Avenue include the chic, fashionable yet functional apparel and accessories from bYSI®, uniquely fun accessories and speakers from Action City, spunky, cutting edge street-wear fashion apparel and accessories from X-TOMIC® by 77^th Street, trendy and fashionable footwear from Ripples and the exclusive range of handmade products from US-trained fashion designer Anna Tsang, founder of Mother and Child Project. The revamped 1^st Avenue with a refreshingly edgier new look is now leaner and meaner with something for everyone, so do come down and visit us!

RMT Retail and Social Entrepreneurship

The Diploma in Retail Management (RMT) will partner 4 social enterprises to organise a community event on the weekend of 4 and 5 August 2012 at Changi City Point. This event helps to promote social entrepreneurship as well as allow our RMT Seniors to apply retailing strategies to help the non-profit organisations. The funds raised through the sales of merchandise produced by these enterprises at the event will help support and further their causes.

One of them is the Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA), which was formed in 1970 as a general welfare service. It has progressed over the years to include services for the elderly and disabled in Singapore. Today, AWWA reaches out to offers the elderly, children and young people with special needs to empower them to maximise their potential for independence.

Another partner is the Mouth Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) which is an enterprise that sells paintings, greeting cards, calendars painted by artists who, for reasons due to accidents, birth defects or illness, are deprived of the use of their hands and hence, use either their mouth or foot to create their work.

The Mother and Child Project, a social enterprise run by the Singapore Anglican Community Services is another enterprise involved in this event. It provides home-based sewing contract work for disadvantaged mothers so that they can be economically self-sufficient. The organisation sells a wide range of products ranging from tissue pouches to patchwork quilts and hand-painted clothing.   

The fourth organisation is Action For Singapore Dogs. Established in 2000, its mission is to improve the welfare of stray and abandoned dogs in Singapore. The company frequently organises events to raise funds for veterinary care of rescued dogs and to promote adoption of our local dogs.

RMT looks forward to working with these 4 social enterprises and to raise the awareness to support the causes of these organisations.

A Different Freshmen Orientation

Student leaders from the Diploma in Retail Management (RMT) organised a unique and exciting Freshmen Orientation for the RMT Freshmen on 25 April 2012. Instead of having the usual Orientation on campus, RMT’s programme took place at Changi City Point. The group, comprising of about 100 students and staff gathered at the Audi Foyer for a quick lunch and then set off for Changi City Point for an afternoon of interesting team-bonding activities.

The group gathered at the mall’s outdoor amphitheatre and then embarked on an exciting ‘Retailer Hunt’ game within the mall. Patterned after the popular Korean game show ‘Running Man’, the Freshmen were divided into groups to search for retailers and merchandise within the mall as well as nearby Singapore Expo to complete their given set of tasks. The game provided opportunities for the students to collaborate with their friends from other classes to receive bonus points. Keenly participative, the RMT students enthusiastically and eagerly scoured the mall for hints, clues and answers, all trying to be the first to complete the hunt. After nearly 2 hours, all the groups completed the ‘Retailer Hunt’.

The Orientation continued with visits to several selected retailers such as Home-Fix, Guardian, Nike Factory Store and Hush Puppies. At each store, students were given a brief introduction of the company and its business. The Freshmen found this interesting as it provided them a glimpse into the titillating world of retailing.

The day concluded with a debrief by the Diploma’s Course Manager, Mr Sam Tan as well as a prize presentation and photo session with the teaching team. The Freshmen found this Orientation a refreshingly unique one and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon bonding with their peers and lecturers.  

The sun was blazing!

Home Fix visit

Hush Puppies Visit

Arab Street

So, the sleepless nights, over dosage of caffeine and mountains of notes had taken its toll on your body. But life's too short for you to brood about the blunders you have made in exams. In that instant, when you have handed up the last exam paper to the invigilator you feel like flying. The air smelled of freedom.

Perhaps the remedy for ‘post exams dissonance’ would be different for each one of us. However, for me, retail therapy proves to be a good way to alleviate my pain.

I took a long walk along Haji Lane and found many new shops that add to the old boring scene of people puffing Shisha. A salon, a cupcake shop and game shop have just joined the rest.

Some of the shops that you may want to visit:

A Thousand Tales (Bar Stories + Café Fables)

2nd Storey

Replete with retro, designer furniture, queer and eccentric display pieces, Thousand Tales is a lifestyle concept store borne from the imagination of a trio of girls who are passionate about living interestingly. It has since evolved into a showcase of local talent.

As you walk up the stairs, you would find more furniture and a café and bar hidden in an adjoining room. In the day, it is a café that serves non-alcoholic drinks and finger food. From 6pm onwards, it is a bar called Bar Stories that serves alcoholic drinks and pasta. You may opt for the Mojitos instead of the cocktails as some of them have similar tastes. Please, spare yourself from the agony of having to pay a lot for their main course – they come in petite sizes.

Pluck

I give you my word – the best ever brownie you can find in Singapore, accompanied by homemade ice cream. Soft and chewy texture inside out topped with warm chocolate sauce. 

Walk a little bit further and you would see people sitting on a lush red velvet sofa by the window enjoying a cup of ice cream. Pluck is a quaint café cum retail shop. The products they carry are a little out of the ordinary – functional objects made special with clever design, beautiful aesthetics and fine detailing.

Home accessories that transform the space of your home, statement jewellery pieces crafted by our local designers, understated luxe handbags are some of the things that you will find in Pluck.

To ensure that you have a memorable shopping experience, Pluck houses an ice cream parlour that serves homemade ice cream and delectable desserts. Some of you may be familiar with the ice cream they serve when they set up a counter in 1^st Avenue last year. 

Doinky Doodles

If you happen to stride along Bali Lane, you would be fascinated by the name “Doinky Doodles” on the signage. When you peer inside the wooden framed door you would see this:

I admit, I am still young at heart even though I am XX years old. So there I was, climbing up the stairs, not knowing how I got there in the first place. When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw these:

          

Vintage teacup sets

Hand made bags, wallets, purses and pencil boxes (The little room in the corner is used to conduct crotchet, sewing and embroidery lessons)

Doinky Doodles provides sewing, crochet and embroidery lessons if you have a knack of doing handicrafts. Otherwise, learning a thing or two may come in handy.

Visit their website at: http://www.doinkydoodles.com