PUBLISHED July 27th, 2012 03:59 pm | UPDATED July 23rd, 2024 12:49 am
My quest for unusual and unique furniture takes me to some pretty random places; often this entails a grumpy taxi uncle looking at me like ‘you crazy ang moh! why do you want to go all the way out there?’. Once I have successfully convinced him that yes, I really do want to go to an industrial park in the middle of nowhere, it’s an anxious game of ‘find the warehouse’. But sometimes, it’s all wonderfully worth it, and that is what happened when I went in search of Hock Siong & Co.
Hock Siong & Co inhabits 3 adjacent warehouses on Kampong Ampat, each full of second hand loot, however not as one would normally expect, from houses and such, but mainly from hotels. Apparently (who knew?) hotels change their decor reasonably often to keep in line with current interiors trends and fashions, and when they are done with their furniture and decorations, it all gets sent to Hock Siong & Co. They also have stock from shops, show flats, restaurants and bars making for quite the eclectic collection!
Their stock ranges from furniture to ornaments, lighting to carpets, crockery and cutlery to random looking artifacts, spectacular silverware (just needs a bit of elbow grease to get that polish up!) to stoneware, it’s a bit of an Aladdin’s cave!
With new consignments in every day, they have a constantly changing showroom. Styles vary from modern (like this lamp pictured above which came from a restaurant, original price $1400, sold at Hock Siong for $500) to the more eclectic (like a pair of 6 ft stone horses which had just been bought so unfortunately no photo) to the more traditional, like these ceramic tea caddies (apparently from Great World City’s serviced apartments, sold for just $20 – I now have two in my flat- occupational hazard!)
The two first rooms contain mainly furniture and ornaments but the third room is craaaazy! Packed to the rafters with glassware, cutlery, crockery, linens and random bric-a-brac, it’s a sensory overload for those who are partial to a bit of crafting! Yes, these may look like randomly shaped bits of crystal but I’m thinking, ooooooh next year’s Christmas tree decorations!
Everything at Hock Siong & Co is incredibly reasonably priced but if you feel there is more of a bargain to be had and you’ve got the gumption, they are quite open to a bit of haggling. Delivery is free on all purchases over $300, you can pay via Visa and Mastercard, so no hassle of cash only and they are also able to modify certain pieces to your specifications.
It’s an absolute gem of a place, I urge you to head down there and have a look around, and if my word isn’t enough, take it from this rather stern, wise looking fellow…