orchardgateway emerged as the favourite among voters for its ‘An Icicle Xmas’ theme. (image: ORBA)
SINGAPORE, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA) announced the winners of its Best Dressed Building Contest 2015, which ran from 20 November 2015 – 5 December 2015. orchardgateway won the Voters’ Choice Award, while ION Orchard clinched the Judges’ Choice Award.
Six other malls received merit awards for their decorations – Forum The Shopping Mall, Mandarin Gallery, Paragon, Tanglin Mall, TANGS at Tang Plaza, and Wheelock Place. The annual contest saw a total of eight malls vying for the top two awards.
ORBA Chairman Mark Shaw said: “On behalf of ORBA, I would like to congratulate orchardgateway and ION Orchard for their wins in the Voters’ Choice and Judges’ Choice categories respectively. We thank all participants of this year’s Best Dressed Building Contest for the efforts put in to decorate their malls. The stunning facades on the participating buildings have contributed to ringing in the festivities in our precinct. Together with our Christmas lights, we hope shoppers enjoy not just shopping in our malls, but also this visual spectacle on our streetscape.”
orchardgateway emerged as the favourite among voters for its ‘An Icicle Xmas’ theme, with its one-of-a-kind interactive Christmas attraction captivating tourists and locals along Orchard Road. orchardgateway received 4,904 out of a total of 17,551 votes registered on the recently-launched OneOrchard mobile application.
“We are delighted and grateful that shoppers have voted overwhelmingly for orchardgateway as the Best Dressed Building (Voters’ Choice)! As a small token of our appreciation, we will be giving away free $10 orchardgateway shopping vouchers for the first 500 shoppers on Saturday 19 December from 2:30 pm. We are glad that our ‘An Icicle Xmas’ theme together with ‘snowfall’ and ‘interactive snowman’ are well liked and enjoyed by shoppers. ‘An Icicle Xmas’ was inspired by the beauty and mystery of icicles during winter. Every icicle has its own unique charm and grace. They are a form of spontaneous fleeting beauty that just happens. In the same vein, our shoppers are confident individuals, each with their own strong unique fashion sense; each beautiful in his/her own way,” said Mr Vincent Soh, Chief Executive, orchardgateway.
The Judges’ Choice Award was given to ION Orchard for its ‘Christmas Bedazzle’ theme, with the shopping mall’s outdoor space transformed into a Christmas park wonderland with a stunning outdoor Swarovski Christmas tree adorned with over 28,000 glittering crystals. The malls were judged for the day and night effects of their Christmas decorations as well as the use of interactive features to create an engaging experience for shoppers.
“To win the Best Dressed Building Contest testifies to the strong support from our tenants and shoppers. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the judges this year. Every year we aim to delight our shoppers and bring the magical spirit of Christmas to all. This year we focused on a community cause, and that was our inspiration for the 12 designer Christmas trees, for which we invite our shoppers to open their hearts for charity this season. In addition, we want to bring joy to all with our multisensory Christmas park wonderland. The sparkling Swarovski walk-in tree is a hit with shoppers and tourists, as evident on social media. We are truly delighted and appreciative of this award and to show our gratitude, we are pleased to offer exclusive rewards[1] this festive season from 18 December till 27 December. We will also be opening till 11pm from now for everyone to get their last bit of Christmas shopping done,” said Mr Chris Chong, CEO, Orchard Turn Retail Investment Pte Ltd.
Members of the public who voted for their best dressed building stand a chance to win $200 worth of shopping vouchers in a lucky draw. The 15 lucky winners will be notified by post.
The Best Dressed Building Contest is one of the many highlights in the seven-week calendar of ORBA’s Christmas on A Great Street 2015. There will be a series of festive performances from 18 – 23 December 2015 along Orchard Road where talented volunteers from CCIS will be performing Christmas songs, dances and skits outside ION Orchard and Wisma Atria nightly. Shoppers can look forward to tea-infused mocktails brewed specially by The 1872 Clipper Tea at their special pop-up store located outside Wisma Atria from 4 – 20 December 2015.
[1] *ION PRIVI Members earn 10X ION+ Points with minimum $3,000* spend at Luxury Fashion & Fashion Accessories stores (L1 – L3). 5X ION+ Points for ION+ Rewards Members!
About Orchard Road Business Association
Founded in 1998, Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA) is the Place Manager of Orchard Road, representing the interests and welfare of businesses operating along Orchard Road. ORBA’s mission is to preserve, promote, improve, and facilitate business through events, business development, marketing and promotion.
ORBA organises high-profile events such as “Christmas on A Great Street”, “Fashion Steps Out”, “Rev-Up @ Orchard”, and “Pedestrian Night” to attract visitors and tourists to Orchard Road. Its annual award-winning “Christmas on A Great Street” marks the start of the year-end festive season in Singapore, illuminating the city’s foremost shopping and entertainment district with sparkling lights and colour.
Membership in ORBA is open to Orchard Road stakeholders, as well as non-stakeholders who have an affiliation to lifestyle business along Orchard Road. There are more than 100 members in the Association, including the owners and management of shopping malls, departmental stores, leading retailers, hotels, and restaurants.
ORBA operates under the auspices of the Singapore Tourism Board with its administration entrusted to an Executive Committee (EXCO) comprising some of Orchard Road’s key stakeholders. The EXCO is headed by Mr Mark Shaw, Executive Vice-President of Shaw Organisation, as Chairman.
For more information, please visit www.orchardroad.org or www.facebook.com/orchardroad.sg.
Source: ORBA via ACN Newswire
