With the upcoming Singapore F1 Grand Prix (Sep 24-26), new integrated resorts combining casinos, artificial beaches and entertainment (Resort World Sentosa), not to mention more air-conditioned malls than you can wave a shopping bag at, we’re seriously worried about Singapore’s soul. Is the city state turning into a Disney version of Monaco? In short, is Singapore selling out? To find out, we scoured the streets for places that best epitomize the indie spirit, places far from the crowd, places ranging from collectible stores and standalone boutiques to hole-in-the-wall restaurants and underground nightspots. The result of our search? Singapore’s indie spirit is alive and well, and we’re all the better for it.

The Weird and the Wonderful

Set up by chatty and friendly business partners Bridget Lee and Chua Hwee Yee, Stevie General Store (93 Club St., 6536-8590. Open Tue-Sun 2-8pm) is every collector’s dream come true. This five-month-old collectibles store and fashion boutique (Lee also stocks her edgy contemporary womenswear collection Philomel here) is a treasure trove of arts and antiques, books, eyewear, lamps, tin toys, watches, silverware and every other item imaginable. Lee and Chua handpick all the stock themselves, mostly from their own private collection (“I’m a hoarder,” Lee admits) sourced from all over the world, including Japan, London and the US. “I collect mostly items that are sparse and curious…although most people don’t understand what we do here,” Lee chuckles. “But being in the Club Street area makes a bit of sense as the area is known for its ‘eclectic’ vibe.” The two certainly look the part—Lee sports a mohawk and a Miami Ink-style tattoo across her head, while Hwee, though more pared down, sports a pair of original vintage Tart glasses (available from US$203 upwards). The items here are as colorful as their owners. Among the incredible array, we spotted an eye-catching vintage Charlie Chaplin lamp (US$203), a set of collectible 80s pirate clay dolls (US$365 for three) and even a 100-year-old antler cigarette holder (US$227).

Offering a similar vibe is the six-year-old The Attic (#04-146A Far East Plaza, 14 Scotts Rd., 6732-3459. Open Mon-Sat 3:30-9pm, Sun 3:30-7:30pm), run by cool cat Yap Chang Ten, who doubles up as an interior designer to sustain the store, which he refers to as his “labor of love.” The Attic is chockfull of everything and anything—from vintage vinyl players to hard-to-find 70s advertising signboards and cigarette cans, to 60s Levi’s shirts and collectible sunglasses—you name it, the man has it. “What I sell are things that appeal to me,” adds Yap, who trawls junkyards and the internet for his goods. “If you want to run a store like this and stay true to yourself, you must find ways to work it out and keep with the flow.”

Older than The Attic, but sharing its spirit, is the little known The Heritage Shop (#01-01, 93 Jalan Sultan, 6223-7982. Open daily noon-7pm). Partly due to the fact that it’s located on the more obscure Jalan Sultan, a 10-minute walk from popular stretch Haji Lane, this typically quiet 900-sq-foot store is replete with rare old lamps, typewriters, vinyls, signboards, radios, books, photographs, postcards and tin cans—mostly from the 30s through the 70s. “I collect things that conjure up Singapore’s past,” says owner Patrick Phoa, who has been running the store for more than two decades. Phoa’s personal favorites among thousands of his old-school wares include his vast collection of age-old postcards.

Possibly even more obscure is Junkie’s Corner (94 Jalan Senang, 9791-2607. Open daily noon-7pm), located in the East near Kembangan MRT. Owner Charlie has filled this 4,500-sq-foot (you heard us right) converted neighborhood terrace house with a veritable selection of used antique furniture, artworks, toys and signboards. Never mind that the place is a little dusty and haphazard (even a tad difficult to find); there are joyful surprises hiding in every corner.

Shop Differently

While the masses prefer to spend on big designer brands and affordable high-street labels, independent boutiques like Belief, Know It Nothing and Blackmarket tend to stay under the radar. Nevertheless, they’re making their mark on the city’s alternative style scene. Belief (#02-16 Peninsula Shopping Centre, 3 Coleman St. Open Mon-Sat 2-8pm, Sun 3-7pm) is the place to go to if you’re looking to stay ahead of the runway. Specializing in mainly Japanese brands, the store was set up to cater to a niche crowd of trendsetters who are “not simply buying into trends and what they read in magazines,” says owner Roy Lim. Lim flies to Tokyo every three months to source the clothes himself, which include a small, but carefully curated selection of jeans, men’s shirts, wallets, keychains, bags and caps. His ethos is enhanced by old school jazz tunes that play as buyers browse the racks—found here are past season collections of brands like Number Nine, W Taps and Undercover, alongside newly stocked cult labels like Anachronorm, Mature, Journal Standard and Wacko Maria.

The guys at two-year-old Blackmarket (19 Jalan Pisang, 6296-8512. Open daily noon-9pm) are also pushing the indie style envelope. What started out as a design agency and fashion boutique has since evolved into a full-fledged style haven for the young and restless. Owners Jasmine Tuan and Quincy Teofisto update the store’s collection with local and emerging Asian labels like Sundays, Elohim, Yuyumu and Danjyo Hiyoji, which focus on the quality of cuts and fabric to create looks that are forward and contemporary. For more alternative labels that will set you apart from the rest of the herd, independent menswear specialist Know It Nothing (51 Haji Lane, 6392-5475. Open Mon-Sat 1-8pm, Sun 3-7pm) features a choice selection of garments from in-house label Sifr—which focuses on cool, wearable basics—as well as international brands like Engineered Garments and Wood Wood, with Japanese label Creep by Hiroshi Awai arriving soon. Just a few doors away is Whiteroom (37 Haji Lane, 6297-1280. Open Mon-Sat 1-8pm), run by fashion designer Arthua Chua and :Phunk Studio’s Melvyn Lim. After a refurbishment three months ago, the store now boasts Chua’s smart, preppy in-house label, Drifters, as well as bits from his private collection of shirts, shoes, bags and aviators that he’s put up for sale.

Also new on Haji Lane is the month-old mod-style furniture store and bar/café A Thousand Tales (55 Haji Lane, 6298-0838. Open daily noon-8pm, bar opens till late). Set up independently by three partners, the vibe here is more lush and contemporary: Level one is garnished with individually customized furniture with a Scandinavian twist, alongside artworks by Japanese artist Sumio Suzuki and trendy poster prints by Brit Steve Lawler aka Mojoko, while the second floor houses a small, 20-seater café which serves bespoke drinks and cocktails—certainly a must for those looking for somewhere with a little bit more character.

Analog’s alive

Skip the big boys like HMV and That CD Shop, and head to indie music stores run by people who really care about their music; you’ll find cheaper deals and better selections, too. First stop, mammoth 2,000-sq-foot vinyl and CD specialist Red Point (#06-11 Kapo Factory, 80 Playfair Rd., 6383-3955. Open Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm), arguably Singapore’s best kept music secret. Owner Ong Chai Koon, who works as a carpenter during the day, set up Red Point eight years ago to share his love for vinyl. His collection now stretches to a jaw-dropping 6,000 records. “I advertise in the newspapers looking for old records that people are willing to let go in bulk so that I can sell them to my customers at competitive prices,” he says. Spotted here are rare titles like a vinyl copy of Nick Cave’s The Good Son going for US$40, as well as many other collectible classic jazz albums (look out for works by Oscar Petersen and Jan Garbarek), hundreds of classical CDs and a respectable selection of 80s 12-inch singles starting from as low as US$4.

Also great for music collectibles is Roxy Records & Trading (#02-15 Excelsior Shopping Centre, 5 Coleman St., 6337-7783. Open Mon-Sat 11am-9:30pm). Brothers Paul and Richard Lim have been in the business since the 70s, and the store is still one of the best in town if you’re looking for rare and imported titles—shipments from the US and Europe come in on a weekly basis.

“We have regulars coming back to us because they know there might be a chance that obscure CD or vinyl they can’t find anywhere else is here. We take special orders too,” says Paul. Indeed, this is one of the rare places where customers can place an order for basically any title, so if you can’t find that rare Beatles or Miles Davis LP that you’ve been trying to track down for years, you know where to go.

Located three doors away is Loong Record Shop (#02-15 Excelsior Shopping Centre, 5 Coleman St., 6337-7783. Open Mon-Fri 5-7pm, Sat 3-8pm, Sun 6-8pm). Around for more than 15 years, Loong specializes in bargain secondhand CDs (read: US$2.50 upwards) and vinyl (US$4 upwards). Look hard enough and there are plenty of out-of-print titles, though as everything is stacked randomly in boxes, you really have to persevere.

For local indie as well as punk, rock and heavy metal, Straits Records (49 Haji Lane, 9385-3211. Open daily 3-9pm) is where it’s at if you’re looking for the real deal. Owners Wan and Amir moved their modest record store around the Arab Street area for years, before settling into their current location a couple of months ago. Regulars who come here are as edgy as their owners (Wan wears a signature dreadlock and is a vegan to boot), and the duo look like they’ve just stepped out of the Seattle rock music scene—it doesn’t get more indie than this.

Food for Thought

Independent hole-in-the-wall restaurants are not easy to come by in this city, which is why we absolutely love Raw Kitchen Bar (276 Upper Bukit Timah Rd., 6467-3987. Open Tue-Thu 6pm-midnight, Fri-Sun 6pm-1am), located next to the old fire station on Upper Bukit Timah Road. The two-year-old joint run by a bunch of designers is still one of the quirkiest eating spots in the city—the décor is a fusion of one-off designer pieces made by one of the owners and retro knick-knacks; even the menus are all handwritten. The space doesn’t seat more than 50 at any one time. While you’re here, try the interesting range of pizzas and pastas like the crab rigatoni with weekly specials thrown in for good measure. With any luck, you might chance upon a random photography exhibition.

Nearby is three-month-old Italian joint Trattoria Milano (3 Chu Lin Rd., 6760-3524. Open Tue-Sun noon-2:30pm, 6-10:30pm). This little-heard-of restaurant is run by chef Domenic Truglia, who was a jazz and rock music star back in Italy before he decided to start calling Singapore home a couple of years ago. Its 40-seater setting is reminiscent of the best hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Italy—quiet and intimate—perfect for that plate of tantalizing squid ink ravioli in capsicum sauce.

Equally obscure is three-month-old Arbite (66A Serangoon Garden Way, 6287-0430. Open Tue-Fri 11:30am-10:30pm, Sat-Sun 11am-10:30pm), located on top of a Guardian pharmacy in the relaxing neighborhood of Serangoon Gardens. The décor—designed and conceptualized by chef and owner Marc Wee himself—is minimal cool and seats only 50 people, while the menu is a good mix of European-influenced comfort food. Try dishes like the pappardelle with mushrooms and parma ham and handmade desserts like chocolate cake.

For some old-school goodness, you can’t go wrong with the fresh handmade cakes from Lana Cakes (36 Greenwood Ave., 6466-5315. Open Wed 11am-6pm, Thu-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-5pm). Owner Violet Kwan has been making her beloved chocolate and orange-carrot cakes from her small confectionery store in Bukit Timah for the past 30 years, and is still going strong (selling over 100 whole cakes per day). This is one of the few cake stores in town that still sports charming and authentic 70s décor—indie has never looked (or tasted) better.

On the Flipside

One-off events and parties are perhaps the ultimate expression of the indie spirit, with unpredictability being the name of the game. Primarily an alternative lifestyle, music and arts space for the city’s self-styled punk and indie musicians, Blackhole 212 (212 Syed Alwai Rd. www.blackhole212.wordpress.com) holds an average of two ad-hoc gigs per month, and is one of very few venues in the city where musicians and artists can let it rip on stage. Recently, emo-punk groups such as KL’s This is Atlantis and Peace of Resistance have had gigs here, and there was even a Metallica tribute concert—this is the real deal if you’re a true indie fan. Check the website for updates.

If dance music is more your thing, register with local nightlife crew Midnight Shift at www.mnshift.com. These guys have been coming up with some truly exciting DJ lineups over the past few months, including a recent Green Velvet gig at Stereolab and a performance from Octave One at La Maison, with the latter’s identity only revealed on the night of the gig. You have to register your name on the site to receive news and updates. While you’re at it, register yourself at www.homeclub.com.sg for the latest on underground dance gigs at Home Club (20 Upper Circular Rd., 6538-2928. Open Mon-Thu 6pm-2am, Fri 6pm-3am, Sat 6pm-4am). The vibe is rowdy, fun and reckless, just like the DJs that spin here, including indie duo Joe Ng and Ginette Chittick during their weekly Beat! nights, as well as visiting spinmeisters like Goldie and DJ Marky.

Gimme More Indie

ActuallyActually (#02-01, 16 Purvis St., 6336-7002)—What started out as a small multi-label fashion store by ex-music executive Paul Khor has morphed into a staple for many fashionistas. But the indie vibe is alive and well in its clothes, which include obscure but forward-thinking labels like Song Zio and Masahiko Maruyama.

The Attic (#01-64 Square 2 @ Novena 10, Sinaran Dr., 6235-0165. Open Mon-Sat 2-6pm)—Owner Bobby has been in the music business, specializing in rare imported titles, since the 70s and the store carries mainly US and European imports spanning oldies, jazz, folk-pop, 80s dance and pop.

Déjà vu Vintage (#01-70 Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Blvd., +65-6338-8013. Open daily 11am-9pm)—Come here if you’re looking for designer vintage clothes at fairly affordable prices. Owner Kelly Lee sources all the pieces herself during trips to the US and Europe.

Front Row (#02-09 Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Rd., +65-6224-5501. Open Mon-Sat noon-8pm, Sat noon-5pm)—Stocks cutting-edge local labels Woods & Woods, Utter and Pettifogr, alongside cult international brands like Cosmic Wonder.

Granny’s Day Out (#03-25 Peninsula Shopping Centre, 3 Coleman St., +65-6336-9774. Open Mon-Sat 1-8:30pm, Sun 1:30-6:30pm)—Still going strong, this five-year-old vintage haunt has a colorful collection of women’s dresses and men’s tees. Pieces are sourced from the US and Japan.

Jade Music (#02-03 Peninsula Shopping Centre, 3 Coleman St., +65-6334-6711. Open daily noon-9pm)—This blues music specialist is great if you’re looking for rare titles. Owner Ebenezer Dazar also gives beginner and advanced guitar lessons.

The Little Dröm Store (7 Ann Siang Hill, Open Sun-Wed, Fri 11am-9pm, Thu 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-4pm)—This new store run by Stanley Tan and Antoinette Wong sells cute trinkets, books, cameras and toys and even has a decent café on the side.

Past Image (#03-08 Excelsior Shopping Centre, 5 Coleman St., +65-6339-3985. Open Mon-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-4pm)—Owner Willy Ong nails it with his collectible toys, vinyl players, movie posters and magazines from the 70s through the 90s.

Surrender (#02-31 Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Rd., +65-6733-2130. Open Mon-Sat noon-8pm, Sun noon-5pm)—Even though it carries high-end preppy looks, this store funkifies it with key street pieces from brands like Neighbourhood, Porter and Vacant, keeping with its indie street roots.

View Point Trading & Collectibles (#02-09 China Square Central, 18 Cross St., +65-6327-8063. Open daily noon-7pm)—Looking for that old Tiger Beer bottle or other 70s/80s drink paraphernalia? Look here.

Woods in the Books (58 Club St., +65-6222-9980. Open Mon-Sat 11am-9pm, Sun noon-6pm)—This four-month-old minimalistic style book store by owners Shannon Ong and illustrator Mike Foo carries a colorful range of picture and pop-up books, as well as Foo’s print works on paper.

Essentials

Sleep Here

Boutique hotels to complete your artsy travel trip.

In the center of Little India, Wanderlust Hotel (2 Dickson Rd., 6396-3322, www.wanderlusthotel.com) has turned a four-story 1920s building into a 29-room boutique hotel. These rooms were decorated by four local design agencies in four different themes and styles, from single color studios to paper-like white rooms with origami inspired details. Rates start from US$146.

A pure white colonial-style building, The Club (28 Ann Siang Rd., 6808-2188, www.theclub.com.sg) is Singapore’s latest stylish boutique accommodation. Though all 22 rooms are bathed in pure white, unique items have been added to different rooms to create a touch of individual flair. The top floor is home to The Club Sky Bar which promises you one of the best panoramic views of Singapore, along with good drinks and cigars. Rates are from US$170.

In direct contrast to The Club, colors play a major role at Klapsons Hotel (15 Hoe Chiang Rd., 6521-9030, http://klapsons.com). From bright purple to midnight black, the hotel adds vibrant colors to its contemporary designs. The result is rooms that are fresh, exciting and sexy—imagine a crystal clear bathroom in the guestroom or a lounge bar with a glowing red mosaic wall. Rates are from US$268.