First and only shopping mall in Singapore to win the prestigious Excellence awards for the second consecutive time, demonstrating highest standards in being family-friendly

City Square Mall received the Excellence award at the ‘We Welcome Families’ Awards Ceremony.
(From left to right: Mrs Mildred Tan, Chairperson of the Businesses for Families Council, Mr Chan Chun Sing, Acting Minister for Social and Family Development, Mr Chia Ngiang Hong, Group General Manager of City Developments Limited)

Singapore, 26 April 2013 – City Square Mall, owned and managed by City Developments Limited (CDL), has once again received the prestigious Excellence Awards under the Shopping Mall Category in the Businesses for Families Council (BFC) ‘We Welcome Families’ Awards 2013, making it the first and only shopping mall in Singapore to receive the accolade twice in a row.

Supported by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), the biennial ‘We Welcome Families’ Awards recognise businesses with exemplary measures to welcome families as their customers through family-friendly strategies, facilities and service touch points. Award winners are determined by a combination of public votes and assessment by the judging panel (70% from public voting and 30% from judging panel). The public voting was held from 1 February to 28 February 2013.

“We are proud to receive this award once again as this is yet another affirmation of City Square Mall’s commitment to making the mall family-friendly and welcoming for families to enjoy. We believe that City Square Mall is more than just a shopping mall; it is also an ideal place for families to spend quality time together and meet up with friends to shop, dine or even take up a fitness class together. As a family mall, we have done much to ensure that we stay committed to our principles of providing a fun and engaging shopping experience for families and children. For example, our events are all organised with families in mind or hold special educational elements for children to learn about a specific subject. We definitely welcome more families to visit the mall and hopefully through our family-oriented events, retail offerings and facilities, families continue to take advantage of what is in store for them”, said City Square Mall’s spokesperson.

Family-oriented events

Since its official opening in 2010, City Square Mall has organised many family-related events to provide the perfect setting for the community to meet, shop and play. Highlights of these events include:

1. March 2013 – Earth Hour 2013 with a free outdoor movie screening of the animated film, “Dr Seuss’ The Lorax” for families and kids to enjoy, which also drives back the message on the importance of protecting the environment.
2. November/December 2012 – Chuggington Christmas campaign where families and kids get to play and interact with their favourite Chuggers through ‘Meet and Greet sessions’ and ‘Live Shows’. The kids also experienced snow play in the “It’s Snow Time!” event held outside of the mall.
3. November/December 2012 – Mother & Baby Awards Fair 2012 was organised in celebration of the prestigious Mother & Baby Awards with good deals on nursery-related products.
4. October/November 2012 – Super Health and Super Wellness for Super Kids to help families stay healthy together with special deals from participating Education and Enrichment centres, families could also gain knowledge on mental wellness from the Mental Well-Being Awareness Road Show by Health Promotion Board.
5. September 2012 – My PAssion Family Game organised by the People’s Association showcased games designed by families and students from the various schools (from primary to tertiary level) to encourage and foster closer bonding among families.
6. May 2012 – Barbie™-themed events during Great Singapore Sale 2012 for family fun and drive home eco-messages to children.

Family-friendly facilities

Over the years, City Square Mall has pride itself as a family-friendly mall with useful and convenient amenities to ensure a seamless shopping experience for families. Every corner of the mall is designed with families in mind. Its family-friendly amenities and facilities range from spacious nursing rooms with hot water dispensers to the complimentary use of kiddy cabs and prams. Families with larger family cars also need not worry about small parking lots as the family parking lots are designed to be bigger and more spacious, which is also applied to the walkways and corridors of the mall.

Complimentary use of kiddy cab in the mall

A spacious nursing room with hot water dispenser

Retail offerings for kids

Since its opening, City Square Mall has continued to position itself as a one-stop destination for families to learn, shop and play, with various education centres and shopping options for families and kids. These education centres offer enrichment classes ranging from music to baking and supplementary enrichment classes to help kids enhance their knowledge and pick up useful life skills. The mall is also home to South East Asia’s first integrated Toys’R’Us and Babies’R’Us store, where families with young kids will have much to cheer, as it offers an extensive selection of baby and children products.

Universal Design Features

As a mini-community hub, the mall’s strategic location ensured seamless integration to the MRT station, together with comfortable waiting areas for shuttle buses and taxis which facilitates convenient access for the public. The mall also took special attention to cater for users’ needs by designing seats with armrests and holders for walking sticks. Shoppers seeking for more information on caregiving for the elderly and disabled can also make a stop at the first standalone care services hub in Singapore – Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), formerly known as Centre for Enabled Living (CEL), located at B2.

City Square Mall – a mall for the community

The mall’s car park is also fitted with pedestrian paths to ensure the safety of pedestrians when walking to their cars or the entrance of the mall. A conscious effort was also made to ensure that certain shops have incorporated wheelchair access during the fitting out process for tenants. Other family-friendly and eco-friendly facilities were also considered as part of the mall’s Universal Design features.

In recognition of its good practices and special efforts taken to provide a seamless and accessible built environment for all, City Square Mall was awarded Gold at the BCA (Building and Construction Authority) Universal Design Award in the built environment in 2010.

For more information on City Square Mall, please visit www.citysquaremall.com.sg or check out City Square Mall’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/citysquaremall.

 

Article contributed by City Developments Limited