Singaporeans love shopping, no doubt about that. Just take a ride down their MRT system or a walk down the street and you will definitely bump into a mall! In fact, most of their MRT stations open up directly into shopping malls which is great if you’re a tourist or out for a shopping spree but not so good if you’re trying to save money!

One of the newest malls to hit the already saturated Orchard Road is the spanking new and iconic Ion Orchard. Read on for my review of Ion Orchard and how it measures up to the other malls on Orchard Road.

Impressive Architecture at Ion Orchard

Ion Orchard is impressive, no doubt about that. It is an architectural marvel with an interesting Media Facade wall along the outside made with cutting edge technology. This lights up at night to create a unique feature, glowing at one end of Orchard Road. I took the underpass from Wheelock’s Place and even the underpass hinted of the impressive technology to come with interesting LCD screen advertisements instead of the conventional paper ones.

Inside, the mall is all about opulent shiny floors, glass and long escalators snaking their way up and down the floors. Their toilets are posh and there are ample toilets so no need for long queues. Apparently there are VIP toilets available for customers who spend over $10,000, celebrities and foreign dignitaries! Although one wonders why that distinction needs to be made! Surely they are as human as the rest of us are!

Ion Orchard is known as a branded mall carrying most brands under one roof. They certainly do with a huge Louis Vuitton store right at the entrance, jostling for space with Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Dior. Enter and you will be treated to even more brands – Yves St Laurent, Salvatore Ferragamo, Prada, Miu Miu, Longchamp and more! A Bottega Veneta store is scheduled to open in just a few more months. There’s even a Harry Winston store there for women who like their bling (expensive bling!) which I took a peek in. Finally, a chance to see the jewelry that adorn celebrities at the Oscars!

Ion Orchard – What’s Good and Bad?

I was in Ion Orchard and was actually looking for something. Bad idea. I personally found the mall really haphazard. The escalators in the middle of the mall somehow make the space smaller and harder to navigate. The escalators are another big problem! They must be one of the longest escalators in Singapore and ironically, one of the escalators connects directly from the Lower Ground floor all the way to the second floor, bypassing the first. So if you’re on the first floor, you can’t take that escalator and need to go all the way to the end to take another escalator. I found that really irritating especially when I was rushing to look for the item I wanted.

I also found that whatever Ion Orchard offered, most malls on Orchard already offered the same as well. In fact, shopping in some of the other malls was a little easier as they were less crowded and were traditionally laid out which made the shopping experience much better. Ion Orchard does not seem to have an anchor tenant which most malls do and for average shoppers like me, I find anchor tenants sometimes easiest to find things in as they are all clearly labelled and laid out!

What I liked about Ion Orchard was their huge and impressive food court called Food Opera available on Basement 4. They actually have a dedicated escalator leading all the way into the food court. It is beautifully designed in line with the cutting edge technology the mall is based on with impressive designer furniture including ostentatious chandeliers and Philippe Stark ghost chairs lookalikes! A huge variety of food is available and I noticed a high number of Japanese type snack stalls and food concepts which we can’t find in Kuala Lumpur. However, be prepared to put up with crowds of people and not being able to find seats at anytime of the day! Otherwise, buy a few snacks from their snack area and eat as you walk!

Ion Orchard is easy to get to, the Orchard MRT opens directly into it and is worth checking out for their brands (if you’re a brand-whore), architecture, riding escalators and their Food Opera. However, if you don’t have much time to spend shopping and wandering around, it can be rather tiring.