SINGAPORE / SHOPPING CULTURE / QUEENSWAY SPORTS RETAIL HISTORY
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By The Memory desk · Historical reference · Sources checked 7 October 2026
Queensway Shopping Centre, at 1 Queensway in Queenstown, is the octagonal 1970s mall that Singaporeans call the sports mall: the place to go for running shoes, football jerseys, squash rackets and a restringing job. The National Heritage Board dates its opening to 1974, though a later Heritage Board festival programme gives 1976, and it was built with more than 200 shops and what the Board describes as Singapore’s first public escalators. Two of its long-running sports tenants arrived in 1979 and the late 1980s.
The Queensway Shopping Centre history is a story of a neighbourhood mall that found a speciality. It opened with an emporium, an exhibition hall, a coffee house and a nightclub for the new residents of Queenstown, and only gradually filled with shoe shops, racket specialists and jersey sellers. This guide sets out the dated record, names the shops that the sources name, and notes where accounts disagree.
Queensway Shopping Centre at a glance
| Address | 1 Queensway, Singapore, on the edge of Queenstown |
| Opened | 1974, according to the National Heritage Board’s Queenstown heritage trail; other accounts, including a 2023 Singapore HeritageFest programme, give 1976 |
| Developer | Not documented in the heritage sources we checked; Wikipedia names City Developments Limited |
| Building | A four-storey shopping centre with a basement car park, offices and a 13-storey apartment tower, built around an octagonal plan with a sunken central concourse |
| Known for | Sports shoes and apparel, racket sports and stringing, football jerseys, sneakers, engravers, photocopiers and tailors |
| Today | Still trading as a sports and streetwear destination; no completed collective sale reported as of October 2026 |
1974 to 1976: a shopping complex for Queenstown
Queensway Shopping Centre was built to serve the residents of Queenstown, according to the 2023 HeritageFest programme. It went up at a site where, Time Out reported in 2021, the junction outside had been a roundabout known as Rumah Bomba Circus, and where street vendors had traded before moving indoors. The land and settlement story of the area is told in our history of what Queenstown was before Queenstown.
The opening date depends on the source. The National Heritage Board’s Queenstown heritage trail and Time Out both say 1974. A Singapore HeritageFest programme in 2023 gives 1976 and a development cost of S$10 million, and other guides say the building was finished in 1975 and opened the following year. We have not been able to settle the difference, so 1974 to 1976 is the safest range to quote.
The original programme was broad. The Heritage Board lists more than 200 shops, a large emporium, an exhibition hall, a coffee house and a nightclub, with offices and a 13-storey apartment tower above. Shop units had two frontages and two-level display windows, and the centre installed what the Board calls Singapore’s first public escalators. For how these early mixed-use centres spread across the island, see our history of Singapore’s shopping centres, atriums and escalators.
The octagon and the sunken concourse
Queensway is easy to recognise from the road and easy to get lost in once inside. The Heritage Board describes an octagonal facade around a central sunken concourse, with shops radiating outward from the middle. Its Wikipedia entry notes that first-time visitors often find the layout disorienting.
That plan has practical effects. With shops facing in several directions and on several levels, a visitor walking a loop passes a great many small frontages in a short distance. This is our reading rather than a documented design intention, but it suits a market where shoppers want to compare one shoe wall or racket rack with the next before deciding.
How did Queensway become the sports mall?
No single date marks the change, but two long-running businesses show how it happened. According to the 2023 HeritageFest programme, Sports World was founded by Mr Sabeer, who first ran a tennis and squash shop with a racket-stringing service at the Kallang Sports and Tennis Centre and moved to Queensway in 1979, selling sports shoes and apparel. Transworld Sports, a tennis specialist run by Eric and Teresa Lim, opened at Queensway in 1989 by that programme’s account, or 1988 according to Time Out. Eric Lim is the son of Lim Bong Soo, a decorated tennis player in Malaya in the 1920s and 1930s, and the shop has been official stringer at events including the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and the 2015 SEA Games.
Others followed. Time Out’s 2019 guide listed LE Underground for skate shoes, I-Run for running, Sports Finesse for squash, Weston Corp for European football jerseys and Gala Sport for badminton, alongside Sports World and Transworld. Seth Lui describes Sports Finesse as carrying the biggest selection of squash rackets, squash eyewear and strings. Today, the Heritage Board notes, the building draws students, families and bargain hunters from across Singapore, and locals call it Singapore’s sports mall.
Why sport, and why here? This is our reading rather than a documented fact. Racket stringing, shoe fitting and jersey printing are services as much as sales, and they reward a shop that customers return to. Once a few specialists were established, school teams, club players and parents buying school shoes had reason to make the trip, and each new shop benefited from the traffic the others drew. The same clustering logic built the guitar basement of Peninsula Shopping Centre and the hi-fi floors of The Adelphi.
Printing, engraving and tailoring
The sports trade brought its own support services. The Heritage Board lists engravers, photocopiers and tailors among Queensway’s tenants, which makes sense for a building that supplies school teams and clubs: a jersey needs a name and number, a trophy needs an inscription and a team shirt may need alterations. The sources we checked do not name individual print or engraving shops or date their arrival, so we do not list them here.
Food is part of the trip too. Time Out’s 2019 guide pointed readers to two laksa stalls in the building, 328 Katong Laksa and Janggut Laksa. As in most older malls, the food tenants change more often than the specialist shops.
Sneakers, streetwear and the 2020s
Recent guides show more sneakers and streetwear in the mix. Time Out noted in 2018 that the centre carried fresh stock from Limited Edt as well as discounted past-season goods from the big sports labels, and in 2021 it pointed out a thrift and vintage shop, Threadlightly, at #02-22. A November 2025 Expat Living guide listed iRun at #01-04, the Liverpool FC Official Store at #01-18, Limited Edt at #01-20/21, New Era at #01-42, Fuze by Sports Fashion at #01-45, LE Underground at #01-55, LE Hall of Fame at #01-10/11 and Weston Corp at #03-29. For the sneaker side of the story, see our histories of Limited Edt and sneaker collecting and JD Sports.
The building’s future has been in question for some years. In May 2019 Time Out wrote that the mall and the buildings around it were preparing for en bloc sales. We have not found a report of a completed collective sale since then, and as of October 2026 the centre is still trading, with shops listed in guides published as recently as late 2025.
Visiting Queensway Shopping Centre
The mall is at 1 Queensway, and shops set their own hours, so check before a special trip. If you are buying running shoes, bring the socks you run in; if you are having a racket strung, ask about tension and turnaround time before you leave it. Discounted older models are part of the appeal, but check sizing carefully, and if you are buying limited-release sneakers, our guide to sneaker resale and spotting fakes is worth reading first.
A Queensway Shopping Centre timeline
- 1974: Opening date given by the National Heritage Board and Time Out.
- 1976: Opening date given by the 2023 HeritageFest programme and other guides, at a cost of S$10 million.
- 1979: Sports World moves in from the Kallang Sports and Tennis Centre.
- 1988 or 1989: Transworld Sports opens at Queensway (sources differ).
- 2010: Transworld is official stringer for the Youth Olympic Games.
- May 2019: Time Out reports the mall and its neighbours preparing for en bloc sales.
- 2021: Time Out lists the thrift shop Threadlightly among its tenants.
- November 2025: Guides list sports, sneaker and streetwear shops including the Liverpool FC Official Store.
Questions people ask
When did Queensway Shopping Centre open?
The National Heritage Board’s heritage trail says 1974. Other accounts, including a 2023 HeritageFest programme, say 1976, so sources differ.
Why is Queensway Shopping Centre known for sports?
Specialist sports shops clustered there from the late 1970s, starting with businesses such as Sports World in 1979 and Transworld Sports in the late 1980s, until locals called it the sports mall.
Did Queensway have Singapore’s first escalators?
The National Heritage Board says the centre had Singapore’s first public escalators when it opened.
Is Queensway Shopping Centre going en bloc?
Time Out reported en bloc preparations in 2019, but we have found no completed collective sale. As of October 2026 the mall is still trading.
Where can I get a racket restrung at Queensway?
Racket specialists such as Transworld Sports and Gala Sport have offered stringing there, according to Time Out. Call ahead to check turnaround times.
Sources and further reading
- National Heritage Board, Roots: Queensway Shopping Centre (My Queenstown Heritage Trail)
- Singapore HeritageFest: Running a business in Singapore’s sports mall (2023)
- Time Out Singapore: The best of Queensway Shopping Centre (2019)
- Time Out Singapore: Iconic strata malls in Singapore (2021)
- Time Out Singapore: The best sports shops in Singapore (2018)
- Seth Lui: Old-school malls in Singapore (2026)
- Wikipedia: Queensway Shopping Centre
- Expat Living: Queensway Shopping Centre guide (2025)
This is a historical reference, not a shop directory: tenants, units and opening hours change, so confirm with a shop before you travel. Read next: Decathlon and big-box sports retail · What Queenstown was before Queenstown · Back to The Memory
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