The 457-room ANA Hotel in Nassim Hill will shut down in March 2004 as owners CapitaLand plan to put up a condominium on the 11,386 sq m freehold site. All 200 staff members will be retrenched. The hotel was known as Century Park Sheraton Singapore before it was renamed in 1990. (Straits Times 12 Feb 2004) (6)

  TV Media closed its last three outlets recently. Its Shaw Towers outlet closed in mid-February, the Bugis Junction outlet in March and the Centrepoint outlet on Sunday last week. In its heyday in the mid-1990s, the store had five outlets here and its exercise products, such as Abdomenizer, Abflex and Power Rider were hot sellers. It was fined S$64,000 in July 2002 for distributing Slim 10 to pharmacies without a wholesale dealer's licence and selling the slimming pills after the government had recalled them. (Straits Times 24 May 2003) (H12)

  Cathay building and cinema is now undergoing a S$100-million redevelopment which will see the construction of a new 15-storey complex, comprising offices, apartments, cinemas, and retail space. The historic building's brown-tiled facade will be preserved. The new complex will be ready by the end of 2005. (Straits Times 17 May 2003 H6)

  The Arts Magazine, which was launched in 1997 by The Esplanade, will cease publication after running its July/August 2003 edition. (Straits Times 13 May 2003 (L14)

  A new S$1 billion mega-prison complex will replace Changi Prison. The Prisons Department wants to demolish the old prison and erect the new prisons which will be ready for use in early 2004. The Preservation of Monuments Board is now talking with the Prisons Department and the URA about the possibility of saving the prison which was built in 1936 and housed about 76,000 prisoners of war between 1942 and 1945 during World War II. The number included about 15,000 local, 39,000 British and 19,000 Australian soldiers. About 50,000 Japanese were imprisoned there after the Japanese surrender. (Straits Times 29 Mar 2003)(H9)

  The controversial new road cutting across Portsdown Road is needed to cut travel times for Queensway, Commonwealth and Tanglin Halt residents, the Land Transport Authority says. The new 1.1 km link between Queensway and Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) will reduce travelling time from 10 minutes to three minutes for Jurong-bound motorists moving from Queenstown to AYE via either Alexandra Road or North Buona Vista Road. (Straits Times Saturday 22 Feb 2003)(H2)

  The National Stadium to be torn down to make way for new Sports Hub

  The Colbar restaurant and two adjoining shops in Portsdown Road estate will be torn down to make way for a new road linking Queensway to the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE). Aside from the three shops, the Gloucester Archery Range and Field, and the Temasek Club's driving range will also have to go. (Straits Times 5 Feb 2003)(H1). See also A Last Look At Colbar Restaurant

  A new CD compilation of songs by four popular local bands of the 1960s - The Thunderbirds, The Cyclones, Naomi & The Boys and The Crescendoes - will go on sale for about S$22 in stores here on 13 Nov 2002. The compilation is a 4-CD box set called Treasures From The Past. (Straits Times 8 Nov 2002) (L4)

  14 of the 18 hawkers from the demolished Taman Serasi Food Centre are relocating to the newly upgraded Serangoon Garden Market, which opens on 19 Nov 2002. (Straits Times 6 Nov 2002) (H10)

  Furniture retailer Ideal Home Living Center, opened five years ago, has closed its Suntec City store two months after 15 customer complaints criticising its services made the headlines here. Ideal Home is the latest of a string of local furniture retailers to flounder in the recession, after Pennsylvania House, Homestead Furniture and Actus, all of which had closed their stores in the last 16 months. (Straits Times 21 Aug 2002) (H1)

  Japanese retailer Daimaru is closing all its three stores here by March 2003. Daimaru Singapore, which has been in Singapore for the past 19 years, turned in a profit of S$500,000 after a decade of losses. It said that 320 employees from its stores in Plaza Singapura in Orchard Road, Junction 8 in Bishan and Liang Court in River Valley, will be laid off. Daimaru is the fourth Japanese retailer to bow out of Singapore, after Sogo in 2000, Yaohan and Tokyu in 1998. Once it has gone, Singapore will have only three Japanese giants on the retail scene - Seiyu, Takashimaya and Isetan. (Straits Times 29 Jun 2002) (3)

  Metro Far East Plaza Branch yesterday closed its doors after 19 years. Metro's four remaining stores are at Paragon Shopping Centre, Marina Square, Century Square and Causeway Point. Metro will open a new store in Sengkang in August 2002. (Straits Times 17 Jun 2002) (H6)

  Homegrown furniture giant Actus, snowed under S$2 million in debts, was wound up last week. Actus began as a furniture store in Bukit Timah's Sixth Avenue 17  years ago. It then moved to Sunset Way in Clementi and later to Havelock Road. It went under as a result of increasing competition and the recession. (Straits Times 30 May 2002) (H3)