Old-school game shop at Sim Lim Square to close physical store after 32 years

Since 1992, Woo Liah Meng, more fondly known to his customers as 'Games Uncle', has sold video games, consoles and other electronic devices at his store Tec-Drome Pte Ltd. 

A part of his job that he loves is talking to people and recommending them products. 

But he will no longer be able to do so in person as he is shuttering the store at Sim Lim Square for good. 

Liah Meng announced the news in a Facebook post on Thursday (Oct 10). 

"Countdown 10 days before we move out from #05-78 Sim Lim Square," he wrote. 

But the business will not be gone for good as Liah Meng will continue selling his products on Facebook and Lazada. 

"Thank you all these years for your support and patronage, and more important your understanding," he told his customers gratefully. 

"If you have time do drop by, [I] wish to personally thank all of you! See you!" 

In the comments, many in the gaming community thanked Liah Meng for his service. 

Even Razer founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan left a comment for Liah Meng, addressing him as Mr Woo: "Thanks for the great times! I remember coming to buy my games from you back in the day! Thank you for your support in the early days too!"

One grateful customer shared that Liah Meng had helped him get a collector's-edition item. 

Others said that they have visited the store since their childhood. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, Liah Meng shared that he is closing his physical store because sales have not been good. 

Currently, Liah Meng runs the store alone, but he shared that previously, he had a partner who eventually left the business as he did not enjoy retail work.

"Online stores on Lazada and Shopee have hit our retail business hard. They are our competitors in the virtual world," he said. 

If you can't beat them, join them. So, Liah Meng put his business online as well. 

He shared that one perk of this is that people who are not able to visit his physical store can have the products delivered to them. 

But going online comes with its own set of struggles as well. 

"We tried very hard to put our products online but we could not find a very niche market for it," he explained. 

"In the sense that if you don't advertise or promote, you can hardly get good sales." 

Other issues he's had to deal with are commission charges and delivery prices, which eat into profits. 

Despite this, Liah Meng feels that this is still the right way to go as his physical store is struggling to stay afloat. 

"All in all, the sales turnover has dropped for our retail business; it's really very low and the profit margin also has dropped, which means we can hardly cover our overheads," he explained. 

To help his online sales, Liah Meng plans on working with distributors that may provide him with better pricings and build on from there. 

Address: 1 Rochor Canal Rd, #05-78 Sim Lim Square, Singapore 188504
Opening hours: 11am to 7.30pm 

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melissateo@asiaone.com