What was Singapore before it was this? The Memory is WahLiao’s desk for the island’s past: what each district was before the new town arrived, how its malls, streets and markets came to be, and what was lost when a place changed hands. Seventy histories are live, written by someone who lives here rather than by an institution, and two more arrive each month. Read one before you visit a place and the place is never quite the same again.
Start here
- What Was Punggol Before Punggol? Kampongs, farms, seafood and the coast before the new town.
- How Orchard Road Went From Nutmeg Orchards and Cemeteries to Singapore’s Shopping Belt
- How Heartland Shopping Grew From Wet Markets and HDB Shops Into Town Centres and Neighbourhood Malls
What was this place before it was this?
The Before series, district by district. Each one starts at the plantation, the kampong or the swamp and ends at the MRT station.
- Punggol
- Sengkang
- Hougang
- Serangoon
- Ang Mo Kio
- Bishan
- Toa Payoh
- Balestier
- Novena
- Newton
- Orchard Road
- Tanglin
- Holland Village
- Buona Vista
- Queenstown
- Alexandra
- Redhill
Coming soon: Marina Bay, Jurong, Tampines, Bedok, Yishun and Woodlands.
How did Singapore learn to shop?
- How Singapore Shopping Works | The Island Story
- The Provision Shop, Mama Shop and the Everyday Retail Culture Before Convenience Stores
- Wet Markets, Fresh Food and the Morning Retail Culture Before the Supermarket
- Pasar Malam, Night Markets and the Bargain Culture That Kept Moving
- Robinsons, John Little, Tangs and the Department Store Era
- How the Shopping Centre Changed the Way Singapore Browsed, Met and Bought
- How Heartland Shopping Grew Into Town Centres and Neighbourhood Malls
- How Electronics Shopping Grew From Specialist Shops to Peninsula, Sim Lim and Funan
- Sim Lim, Funan and the Electronics Mall Era
The streets, markets and enclaves
- Orchard Road: from nutmeg orchards to the shopping belt
- Orchard Road: bungalows, one bold department store and the malls
- Bugis Street
- Chinatown
- Little India, Tekka and Mustafa
- Kampong Glam and Arab Street
- Katong and Joo Chiat
- Geylang Serai
- Holland Village
- Sungei Road Thieves’ Market
- Change Alley
- Beauty World
- Golden Mile Complex
- Peninsula Plaza
- Lucky Plaza
- People’s Park Complex
- City Plaza
- Bras Basah Complex
- Queensway Shopping Centre
- Changi Airport and Jewel
The malls, town by town
- North: Northpoint, Causeway Point, Thomson Plaza
- North-east: Waterway Point, Compass One, Hougang Mall, NEX, AMK Hub, Junction 8
- East: Tampines Central, Bedok Mall, Parkway Parade, White Sands
- Central: Toa Payoh Town Centre and HDB Hub, Tiong Bahru Plaza, Raffles City, Marina Square, Suntec City, VivoCity
- West: Jurong Point, IMM, Lot One, West Mall, The Clementi Mall
Coming soon on this desk
- Singapore Shopping History: The Complete Timeline (the hub for every mall and street story)
- What Was Marina Bay Before Marina Bay? · What Was Jurong Before Jurong?
- Singapore Heritage Trails You Can Walk This Weekend
- The Lost Malls of Singapore · The Old Cinemas of Singapore and the Malls That Replaced Them
- What Was Tampines, Bedok, Yishun and Woodlands Before?
The money underneath
Every mall in these stories was a bet on how people would spend. The logic is in How Shopping Works | The Big Picture and in Shopping in Singapore | The Wahliao Way.
How this desk judges
History on this desk is sourced, dated and walked. When a place still exists, we go; when it does not, we say what stands there now. Corrections are made at the point of error with a date. Read how WahLiao judges.
Everything on this desk: The Memory archive. Neighbourhood guides for living there today are on The Address. Punggol’s own town guide lives on eduKatePunggol.
Last updated 26 September 2026.
