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Xing Fu Tang's last outlet has closed down on Jan. 31, 2023.
The store was located at Northpoint City in Yishun.
In social media post on its second last day, the brand thanked everyone before delving into the reasons why they were pulling out of the market.
Hard to catch up on trends
The Taiwanese chain arrived in Singapore in June 2019, with its first outlet at Century Square. Its claim to fame was the brown sugar boba milk with stir-fried pearls, cooked in front of customers.
Photo via Xing Fu Tang's Facebook page
Photo via Xing Fu Tang's Facebook page
"We hope we made a mark here when Brown Sugar Bubble Tea was the thing," they wrote in the post.
Although it was well-received in its early days, its popularity gradually declined.
The brand said that it tried to develop several "new fancy creations (sic)", but while some were "spectacular", others were not to consumers' liking.
It also admitted that with trends changing rapidly, it was "never easy" to catch up with Singaporeans' tastebuds.
Despite "[fighting] on," Xing Fu Tang had to eventually concede due to "certain circumstances" and rising costs. The company did not specify what the circumstances were.
However, this could possibly only a temporary goodbye, as the brand ended off saying that it hopes to bring back something new, refreshing, and "generically genuine", with the last one up for interpretation.
At its peak, the chain had more than half a dozen outlets across Singapore.
By 2022, however, the outlets had been whittled down to the last few, before the Century Square store closed in March, Takashimaya in August, and Ang Mo Kio in December.
Top photo via Xing Fu Tang's Facebook page