Local hardware chain Home-Fix has closed all retail stores amidst financial woe, according to The Business Times on Dec. 11, 2019.

Telltale signs

While the news came as a shock to some, there were tell-tale signs over the past few months that things were not right.

This includes a reduction in its brick-and-mortar shops from 23 outlets in 2014 to 16 in 2018 to manage its rising operational costs.

The closure of physical stores did not sound any alarm as it was seen as a move to reinvent itself to compete against e-commerce such as Taobao and Amazon.

Back then, Home-Fix was a case study highlighted during the 2018 May Day Rally for its efforts to adapt to technological disruption, Today reported.

In March 2019, Home-Fix held its biggest warehouse sale at its headquarter in Taiseng.

Later in April, its Compass One outlet was re-entered and repossessed which sparked speculation.

Home-Fix's "experience centre" at its headquarter in Taiseng, XPC, also saw its end in October.

The makerspace was launched just last year as part of Home-Fix's strategy to become more service-oriented.

"Young customers no longer see the mall as a place to buy things... This has been an ongoing change, and we use training as a way to go around it," the managing director Low Cheong Kee told Today last year.

In hindsight, vendors and suppliers who had been dealing with Home-Fix clearly did not see this coming.

BT added that the homegrown hardware chain has owed creditors S$19.8 million and is undergoing interim judicial management.

A town hall was called upon to meet some creditors but not all were invited apparently.

One gardening workshop trainer, Olivia Choong, was not informed about the company's woes despite an overdue payment since last December.

Owed gardening workshop trainer S$520 since last Dec

Choong took to Facebook on Oct. 28 to share her story after failing to receive a payment of S$520 for the workshop she had conducted for Home-Fix in December 2018, despite multiple follow-ups.

According to Choong, the contract wrote that the company would pay her within 30 days after the workshop but all her points of liaison left Home-Fix over time which left her feeling "exasperated".

Eventually, she had no one to look for and decided to make her experience public, she told Mothership.

Choong added that besides trying to reach the accounts department via email, she had emailed and texted Low personally.

Low initially replied that he would get back to her on this matter but he never did.

Sensing something was amiss, Choong also went to find out more about the company via Glass Door, a platform that allows employees to leave anonymous reviews.

That led her to find out that Home-Fix owes other vendors money, has a high turnover rate, as well as the possibility that the company has been in debt.

Still hopes to get her money back

After posting about her experience with Home-Fix, a friend of Choong shared that the company has also owed him or her a six-figure sum.

It was this friend who informed Choong about the recent meet-up with creditors.

Choong has not received any news from Low, neither was she asked to join the town hall.

Speaking to Mothership, she described Low as a genuine person and "quite a nice guy" so she believed that he is not out to cheat her.

Choong also added that the fast expansion could have been an overkill for Home-Fix as the company came up with a few new initiatives in recent years.

On top of the makerspace XPC, Home-Fix also officially launched a couple of new offerings last December, such as an online retail store called TISBO (Try In Store Buy Online), Home-Fix Rental, Home-Fix Home Services and Home-Fix Japan.

While she is no longer preoccupied with this overdue payment, Choong still hopes to hear from Home-Fix regarding the payment that they have owed her.

Home-Fix still has outlets in Cambodia and Malaysia.

Top photo by Clarence Y./Yelp

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