Epicentre store in Singapore
For many years, Epicentre served as one of the few authorised resellers for Apple in Singapore.
Now, the reseller plans on selling four of its stores along with its online store to Elush, the parent company of another well-known Apple reseller, iStudio.
The stores at ION Orchard, Wheelock Place, Marina Bay Sands and Bugis Junction, along with its online store will be sold to Elush for $516,275, with permission to use its trademarks “Epicentre” and “Live Out Loud by Epicentre” without additional cost, as part of the agreement.
Epicentre’s status as an authorised Apple reseller expired in April 2018 and was not renewed by Apple, further impacting sales, since the reseller would be unable to receive new stock directly from Apple without reseller status.
However, Epicentre will continue in its role as an authorised Apple reseller for the Malaysian market.
Furthermore, it was disclosed in a statement that the reason for the move was the increased competition from Apple’s own store that opened barely one year ago. It was also disclosed that Apple has plans on opening more retail stores across the city-state.
Epicentre Holdings will now focus on its beauty, wellness and lifestyle business while looking at other possible related businesses, it said in a statement.
The sale is subject to approval from Epicentre Holdings’ shareholders who will convene at an upcoming extraordinary general meeting.
The illustrate the situation the reseller faced, the four mentioned stores including its online stored made a net loss before income tax of about $55,000 for the half-year ending December 2017, it was disclosed.
Epicentre was founded in Singapore in 2002 by four friends, opening its first store at Wheelock place with an investment of $500,000. From there the brand grew, opening four stores across Singapore and six in Malaysia.
