Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, Speaker of Parliament,

Dr Ong Seh Hong, MP for Marine Parade GRC,

Ustaz Pasuni, Chairman of PERGAS HalBiz,

FairPrice Board of Directors,

Members of the media,

Distinguished guests,

Fellow colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. I am honoured to welcome you today to the official opening of our FairPrice Supermarket at Joo Chiat Complex.

As Singapore’s largest supermarket chain, FairPrice has a membership base of over half a million. With more than two million customers visiting our stores every week, we pride ourselves as the people’s supermarket, serving the needs of customers from all walks of life.

FairPrice stores are located close to the heart of the community, offering products and services tailored to the needs of our customers. There is a significant Muslim population residing in the vicinity of this new store. To help us better understand and meet the needs of our Muslim customers, I am happy to announce that FairPrice at Joo Chiat Complex is the first supermarket here to appoint PERGAS Halbiz as our Halal consultant, to ensure that our stores are in compliance with Halal requirements as recommended by MUIS. We target to have at least 40 stores audited by PERGAS within the next 12 months.

And for all customers at Joo Chiat store, they can now look forward to a new “Stretch Your Dollar Zone” which will feature value buys advertised in our weekly advertisements. Many of our shoppers look out for our weekly advertised offers in the papers and hunt for these value buys in the store. With this new “Stretch the Dollar Zone,” our customers can easily pick out these advertised offers. This new initiative is part of our promise to provide great value and service to our customers.

FairPrice cares not only for its customers but also for the community. The FairPrice Million Dollar Food Voucher Scheme this year, launched by Senior Minister Goh two weeks ago, provides FairPrice vouchers to needy families to help them meet their grocery needs. As part of the scheme, NTUC FairPrice Foundation is glad to contribute $14,000 worth of FairPrice vouchers to Kampong Ubi – Kembangan Constituency to help needy residents here.

FairPrice at Joo Chiat Complex is part of a $40 million upgrade and expansion effort this year that will help us provide the best quality and service for our customers. With the recent openings of our 24-hour FairPrice Xtra hypermart in Jurong Point, our new store in Yew Tee, and our two scheduled openings in City Square Mall and Hougang later this year, we look to expand our reach to our customers so that everyone will have access to quality products at best value and services, anytime, anywhere.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Mr Abdullah Tarmugi for gracing this occasion, our partners from PERGAS, Dr Ong, members of the media and everyone here for taking time to join us in our celebration today. FairPrice seeks to build a closer relationship with our Muslim customers and the community, to ensure that essential items will always remain affordable to everyone and to consistently share our success and growth with the community.

Thank you.