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To market, to market: What is behind Singapore’s never-ending weekend bazaars?

Explore Singapore’s vibrant weekend markets featuring creative vendors, unique brands, live music, and workshops that attract Gen Z and young entrepreneurs. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The Straits TimesCarmen Sin查看原文 ↗
Common Rare, one of Shanghai’s biggest creative markets, will debut its first overseas edition in Singapore in September.
Common Rare, one of Shanghai’s biggest creative markets, will debut its first overseas edition in Singapore in September.

Common Rare, one of Shanghai’s biggest creative markets, will debut its first overseas edition in Singapore in September.

Published Sep 17, 2026, 10:35 AM

Updated Sep 17, 2026, 02:48 PM

One of Shanghai's largest creative markets Common Rare is coming to Singapore for its first overseas edition this weekend.

Common Rare senses growth opportunity here as creative markets spanning fashion, art and lifestyle become weekend fixtures in Singapore, with the calendar particularly stacked in recent months.

The popularity of the format is driven by demand from young people and a growing number of small online businesses eager to sell at pop-up markets.

SINGAPORE – There will be big, photogenic inflatables, tattoo artists, live music and more than 200 indie brands. Pets and children are welcome, and small do-it-yourself workshops are scheduled onsite.

This is the carnival-esque programming for one of Shanghai’s largest creative markets Common Rare, which lands here from Sept 18 to 20 at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, putting an international spin on what has been a banner year for weekend bazaars .

Half of the participating vendors are flying in from China for the 10-year-old event’s first overseas edition, and they did not need much persuading, says Common Rare co-founder Tiffany Wong, 34.

Of the 100 brands culled from more than 200 applicants, many are new to the territory, with no client base in Singapore.

But rumours of an especially receptive – and affluent – local market, helpfully schooled in Mandarin, were a big enough carrot for the small business owners to pay for their own airfare, accommodation, logistics and booth rental, notes Wong.

Among the line-up are quirky accessories label Happy Restaurant and pet fashion brand Lazy Eazy, which makes “designer” garb for dogs including racing “jackets”. These novel Chinese brands are the fair’s unique selling point here. The other 100 or so brands hail from South-east Asia and Singapore.

Together, they form a catalogue of trendy Asian homeware, scents, accessories, illustrated prints and clothing.

To Wong and co-founder Vivian Sze, 34, Singapore is a land of opportunity. The city-state permits visa-free entry for Chinese creatives and is a good launchpad for regional follow-ups, they say.

Crucially, there is an appetite for markets. These pop-up events have become weekend fixtures here, with the calendar particularly stacked in recent months.

On the last weekend of August, five fairs vied for attention: art market Artsobi, multidisciplinary creative bonanza In-Between, zine platform Singapore Art Book Fair, the Singapore Night Festival’s Pasar Mad-lam and bookstore Wormhole’s small marketplace.

In September, there have been one or more every weekend, including the reliably packed Public Garden .

Wong, who often visits her sister, a Singapore resident, thinks Common Rare can plug a gap for mega-fairs with diverse attractions.

Its brand curation also leans more polished than the homespun wares at small craft markets here, she says. All Common Rare vendors are design-focused and, as a rule, must have a logo, good packaging and campaign imagery.

A poster for the Common Rare event, which features trendy Asian homeware, scents, accessories, illustrated prints and clothing. PHOTO: COMMON RARE

A poster for the Common Rare event, which features trendy Asian homeware, scents, accessories, illustrated prints and clothing.

Common Rare’s evolution from a dinky 55 stalls at its 2016 launch to its current mass of more than 400 brands at its quarterly Shanghai events reflects the popularity of the market retail format in Chinese cities. “Since Covid-19, everyone’s been doing markets,” says Sze, who estimates there are some 10 markets in Shanghai every weekend.

In response, Common Rare had to go bigger and better. At previous events, to maximise the offline experience of a market, it has held pet adoption drives and traditional Chinese medicine activities, and brought in a masseuse.

Its events are littered with photo spots – big screens, sticker walls and, once, even a 6m-tall outdoor inflatable installation – in keeping with the country’s penchant for “da ka” (punch card), a social media trend where users take pictures of themselves at nice backdrops as proof of their “travels”.

The scene is “a lot more competitive than before”, say the Chinese veterans.

Though less ferociously, the Singapore scene for markets is expanding too, powered by a happy harmony of demand and supply.

Like the high street of the 2000s and Regency-era parks, these fairs are also a place for young people to be seen. PHOTO: KONBINI

Like the high street of the 2000s and Regency-era parks, these fairs are also a place for young people to be seen.

Gen Z and young millennials turned off by rinse-and-repeat shopping centres and online shopping are flocking to creative fairs for retail therapy.

Freelance actor and student Russell Su goes to as many markets as he can, especially after payday.

“I love supporting the arts and discovering new artists locally or internationally,” says the 23-year-old. It is a sentiment that hits on the appeal of latter-day fairs – less bargain-friendly flea market, more creative hotbed.

He adds: “I used to buy most things on (Chinese e-commerce site) Taobao or (second-hand marketplace app) Carousell. But buying things in person, seeing them and feeling them in a tactile way, allows me to determine the quality better.”

Freelance actor and student Russell Su (pictured at a Berlin market) goes to as many markets as he can, especially after payday. PHOTO: COURTESY OF RUSSELL SU

Freelance actor and student Russell Su (pictured at a Berlin market) goes to as many markets as he can, especially after payday.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF RUSSELL SU

Like the high street of the 2000s or Regency-era parks, these fairs are also a place to be seen.

Su says one could even call them “aura-farming conventions”, using Gen Z speak for showing off one’s coolness in public, with the competitive element silently implied. “(At markets), people tend to ascertain your (cultural) tastes according to how stylish or avant-garde you present yourself.”

Local J-fashion market Konbini hires a photographer to snap pictures of its shoppers – an increasingly common practice – though organisers would do just as well without, what with local fashion magazines like F Zine starting to cover the street style at these events.

Says Konbini founder See Kaye: “That documentation is very important in a historical sense (as a record), but also socially, because they are posted online and you see your friends appearing on social media in their outfits. You celebrate one another.”

J-fashion fans at Konbini, which also serves as a gathering point for those in the niche fashion subculture. PHOTO: KONBINI

J-fashion fans at Konbini, which also serves as a gathering point for those in the niche fashion subculture.

See’s “loosely biannual” operation jumped from 500 visitors at its launch in 2023 to 8,000 at its latest event in June.

She sees markets as a “roving third place” for community-hungry Gen Z, displacing tired malls. “In the 1990s to 2000s, teens used to hang out at malls, but not any more. Malls aren’t targeting these young people, who can’t find products they want at malls,” she says.

Konbini, in particular, is a meeting ground for Harajuku-style adherents, the fashion subculture born from the Tokyo shopping street of the same name. There, niche aesthetics are on proud display – frilly Lolita skirts, the chains and leather of Japanese music and fashion movement visual kei, and technicolour hair.

Beyond shopping, there is a best-dressed contest and, at one edition, a Lolita-style picnic was held on the grass outside the venue. Guests took along props and enjoyed sitting on mats in their livery.

Konbini’s Lolita-style picnic in January, where guests brought props and sat on mats on the grass outside the venue. PHOTO: KONBINI

Konbini’s Lolita-style picnic in January, where guests brought props and sat on mats on the grass outside the venue.

Supply is booming alongside demand as a cottage industry of small online businesses fight to booth at these markets. The simple reason is that more people are starting their own small brands.

Common Rare’s Wong says: “A lot of the young generation don’t want to work a nine-to-five job any more, they want to have their own brand.”

These tend to start as passion projects, done on the side of a day job, and markets become the easiest way for these indie makers to test the waters, she adds. Helpfully, these events are held on weekends and organisers usually ask for low-to-mid three-figure sums for a booth, far below the monthly rent for a store in the big city.

As in Shanghai, so in Singapore.

Public Garden, a regular and hotly anticipated market on the shopping calendar. PHOTO: PUBLIC GARDEN

Public Garden, a regular and hotly anticipated market on the shopping calendar.

PHOTO: PUBLIC GARDEN

Konbini’s See, speaking for her generation, provides another reason for the bounty of Gen Z-run businesses. “It’s hard for young people to find the things they want in stores so they have to make it themselves. That’s because fast fashion creates a mono-aesthetic.

“Once you start making things on your own, you naturally start to sell things to cover the cost of supplies.”

As a 21-year-old, she began selling J-fashion clothes sourced online and handmade accessories. The Instagram operation became her impetus for launching Konbini in 2023 because of a lack of markets that catered to her niche, she adds.

According to illustrator Jean Kuah, the current spread of markets for would-be vendors to choose from is far wider than the slim pickings of 2014, when the 32-year-old started making T-shirts under the brand Dapinkrubbish.

“However, with more opportunities also comes greater competition. Many events now have a curation process, so being selected is not necessarily guaranteed.”

Kuah, who now draws original characters under her brand Mochibuddies, adds: “The cost of running a booth has also increased significantly over the years – from rental to manpower to the cost of producing products. As a result, I think it has become increasingly important for artists and small businesses to research each event carefully and consider whether its audience and overall concept are a good fit for their brand.”

Boutiques Singapore The Gifting Edition 2025, which is another market heavyweight in Singapore. PHOTO: BOUTIQUES

Boutiques Singapore The Gifting Edition 2025, which is another market heavyweight in Singapore.

Market regulars say that even three years ago, it was possible to get a weekend booth for $50. Now, $300 is the norm. At more established fairs, rates start at around $500.

Bigger markets and swelling crowds also mean vendors have to work harder to not get lost in the mix. The difficulty has ironically led to even more markets as creatives break off into smaller groups to hold downsized events, says Zu Wee, a creative producer at Thirtytwocm, organiser of the Illustration Arts Festival (IAF).

Designer Claire Boon making a cardboard bed for her booth at In-Between. PHOTO: WONG MENG FEI

Designer Claire Boon making a cardboard bed for her booth at In-Between.

PHOTO: WONG MENG FEI

Other times, markets are born from pure idealism, sans profit motive.

In-Between hit the scene on the happening weekend of Aug 28 – with four other markets running and a clutch of art exhibitions. The event was a first-of-its-kind “part exhibition, part fair” that only lightly encouraged its so-called boothers to sell something.

About 80 per cent of some 50 participants did, but the goods played second fiddle to the creativity on show.

The smorgasbord spanned disciplines: A ceramicist made a sculpture of Buddha from butter, then let it melt. Former nightclub co-owner Bobby Luo showed bizarre masks and garments from his archive. He also curated a roving fashion show of freaky looks that featured a veil made of chicken bones by designer Megan Renee Lim. An ecology graduate presented her research alongside a giant kite made of plastics fished from the sea, complete with algae and seaweed.

Bobby Luo's Odditorium at In-Between. PHOTO: WONG MENG FEI

Bobby Luo's Odditorium at In-Between.

Event co-organiser and design lecturer Dandy Hartono, 28, says: “Art markets have got so specific, only specific kinds of people can join. At IAF, it’s only illustrators. At Singapore Art Book fair, you need to make books. I have a lot of colleagues and students who aren’t illustrators or bookmakers. They don’t have a place to show their work.”

Enter In-Between – a platform for the misfits.

The frustration with “cookie cutter” art markets extended to the set-up. Instead of tables, In-Between gave its creatives a 2m by 2m floor space and eight cardboard boxes. Someone made a bed, another a car. One illustrator made a “cave” with curtains at the entrance that visitors entered with a torch that lit up his artwork on the “walls”, says Hartono.

“Booths” were arranged in criss-crossing lines, not neat rows, so people would have to pick their way through and, hopefully, mingle on the way .

It was controlled chaos inspired by Hartono and co-organiser Nicia Lam’s art school days. “This is not our official tagline but internally, we called it a graduation show for practising creatives,” says Hartono.

A group of art students, 80 Ben St, with their cardboard car booth at In-Between. PHOTO: WONG MENG FEI

A group of art students, 80 Ben St, with their cardboard car booth at In-Between.

These innovations were sparked by the pair’s yen to replicate the “anything goes” spirit of a graduation show and nothing to do with one-upping the competition. In fact, they very nearly did not break even from ticket sales ($6 each), even with rent at the New Bahru venue waived.

Says Hartono: “When we started this, we didn’t think about competing against other markets. It’s purely because we were so itchy to do this.”

With 2,400 visitors in its inaugural run, and a sequel event not ruled out, this itch just might spread.

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