THE OG

How We Started

Golden Mile Food Centre was created in 1975 in order to house the hawkers that had settled from Jalan Sultan Street Market. Although Golden Mile Food Centre is predominantly known as a place to enjoy delicious food, it was, and still is, more commonly known as 'Beach Road Army Market', ‘The Army Market’ or simply 'Beach Road' due to the sheer amount of army shops that is located above the food court itself. Generations of Singaporean Sons will know how iconic The Army Market was, due to the fact that Beach Road Army Market had established itself as a group of army supply shops, with many of the products sold being exclusive to The Army Market.

The Army Market enjoyed its Golden Age during the 1990's, where the older generation NSmen and Reservists knew that The Army Market was the best place to go in order to get spare or replacement items at a last minute basis, in order to avoid the signing of the infamous SAF 1206(pronounced as twelve-O-six), which is the formal signed acknowledgement for the deduction of an NSmen’s payroll for the loss or damage of equipment. There even used to be a time when The Army Market stocked ‘weird’ and ‘useful’ items, but that time has past and now The Army Market has 'washed its hands', stocking only state and military legal items.

The Army Market is jammed packed with approximately 111 shops that sell army equipment such as the shemagh, condor tactical gear, morale patches, military dog tags, gregory pack, army boots, Swiss army knife and SAF ranks. Including also camping gear such as a tent, camping bags and sleeping bags for the occasional camper or trekker. Also, if you know how to bargain, you might also get certain items for a cheaper price.

Apart from these, The Army Market also sells miscellaneous products, such as casual t-shirts and custom name tags. They also cater to the various uniform groups in the primary schools and secondary schools in Singapore, in which students usually going there to sew on their name tags and Singapore army ranks, or even to buy spare jockey caps. It is a one-stop destination where you can buy stuff for the needs of SAF guys, school uniformed units and tourists all under one roof. Most of their products like electrical items are imported primarily from Thailand and China. There are even shops that provide watch repair and electrical services.

However, the Beach Road Army Market has long lost its title of being Singapore's main location of army supply shops. The introduction of the eMart SAF online by the Singapore Armed Forces since 1997 has allowed NSmen and Reservists with the option of getting their army equipment at more accessible and convenient locations, with the use of credits that will be given as an alternative of paying cash. Also, with the closure of Beach Road Army Camp nearby, The Army Market had lost its main target audience. To this day, students from uniform groups still visit Beach Road Army Market, but with that being such a small percentage, the loss of the shop owner's businesses is apparent.

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Despite these drawbacks, the Army Market still has people from all over the island, and even tourists visiting the market, either for products and services that other smaller Army Shops or even Chevron eMart or NS eMart offers or just looking for products that are sold at a cheaper price as compared to other places. The external competition that Beach Road Army Market is facing is too overwhelming.