Flor Patisserie cake shop in Siglap to close down as landlord raising rent from S$5,400 to S$8,500

Flor Patisserie, a cake shop at Siglap Drive, is closing down as the landlord of the premises wants to raise the rent from S$5,400 to S$8,500 in the next lease renewal.

The announcement of the 57 per cent rental hike was put up by the brand on Apr. 23.

The lease renewal is slated for July.

The cake shop expressed surprise that the property, which is considered out of the way given that it is a 15-minute walk from the nearest MRT station, could command such a high rental.

The post, by the owner Heidi, 36, read:

"That was exactly how much we were paying at our now-closed East Coast outlet, that had a much better frontage, with parking and accessibility. And even that space didn’t make it with sky-rocketing food, utility, and manpower costs."

She added: "Honestly, is it really market rate or just property agents playing games? Our market got so good meh?"

The last day of operations will likely be in end-June or early July.

Whether Flor Patisserie will close for good is still up in the air.

Rent control needed

"Rents everywhere are too crazy. We definitely do not want to fund another investment property buyer’s outrageous mortgage loan," the cake shop's statement read.

Speaking to Mothership.sg, Heidi added:

Speaking as a small business owner for over 15 years, the situation now is really depressing.

Restrictive manpower policies, rising ingredients costs are challenging as it is, every two to three years we have to content with greedy landlords.

I hope our government can put policies in place to regulate rents.

I get we operate a free market economy, but we have seen how foreign factors have influenced rents over the short three-four years since Covid-19.

It’s not natural.

Our current rent is S$5,400. Landlord is asking for S$8,500 now.

We’ve been at this location since 2013, started with S$4,000 with the previous landlord.

From 2013 to 2022, our previous landlord has only increased our rent by S$500, to S$4,500.

When the new landlord bought this space in April 2022, he renewed our rent to S$5,400 in July 2022.

Then now he is asking for S$8,500 in the upcoming renewal.

Last two months

The shop will be spending the last two months in operation making crowd favourite cakes.

These include Earl Grey Choco, Paris Vert, Mango Pie and others.

Customers are urged to follow Flor Patisserie on social media for updates.

Top photos via Google Maps