13Ĭold Storage remained in operation during the Japanese Occupation (1942–45). 12 During the ’30s, Cold Storage was also a popular and fashionable congregating spot for European housewives with its ice-cream parlour and coffee lounge. In 1933, it launched a grocery department with vegetables brought from places as near as Cameron Highlands and as far as South Africa.

10 The company also undertook other ventures including setting up a pig farm and a dairy farm. 8 In 1930, it began baking its own bread 9 after the company bought over the Chinese-run Royal Bakery in Geylang. It was subsequently relaunched in 1937 as Magnolia. Known as Paradise, the brand’s logo was an ornate bird-of-paradise. In 1923, the company manufactured the first ice-cream in Singapore. Centrepoint Shopping Centre currently stands on the site of this building. In 1917, Cold Storage took over a building on Orchard Road. Its business improved only in 1909 when it expanded its operations under a new management and built its own custom-made retail outlet with the Johor-bound railway passing right through. However, the company did not do well initially as the servant classes boycotted it, and its fresh fruit and vegetable imports could not survive the sea journey. 4 It pioneered the processing and distribution of hygienic food supplies in Malaya. This first batch of cargo was stored in a 400-tonne-capacity refrigeration facility in a wharf at Keppel Harbour.

3 It opened its first retail space on 24 March 1905 on Orchard Road with frozen meats, poultry and dairy products imported from Queensland, Australia. 2Ĭold Storage was formed on 8 June 1903 as a storage and distribution business for frozen food and perishable products.

1 It pioneered the processing and distribution of hygienic food supplies in Malaya. The earliest supermarket in Singapore, Cold Storage Company Ltd, was established in 1903.

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