Why Is Leong Yeow Chicken Rice Closing Shop After 46 Years Even With $2K Rental Discount?

News of the stall’s closure was first posted on Facebook by netizen Matthew Soh, who shared a notice that the stall owners had put up outside their shop. The notice reads: “We extend our deepest gratitude for your unwavering support and loyalty over the years. Your patronage has meant the world to us.”

Leong Yeow Chicken Rice opened their first stall at Queen Street in 1978, before opening their Waterloo outlet the following year in 1979. Both shops, about a five-minute walk apart, have remained at the same location till now.

What happened? 

Matthew wrote in his post that “rental kills a five-decade business”. But that may not be the case in this instance (more on that later). 

8days.sg reached out to Leong Yeow Chicken Rice co-owner, Mr Loy, 62, who simply says: “We’re all getting older, and we want to rest for a while”. He declines to elaborate on any rental issues, only hinting at some disagreements with the Waterloo coffee shop owner which he vaguely shared with us off the record. 

Stall rent lowered from $7K to $5K, but hawkers still set on closing shop

Meanwhile, BGain 261 Eating House’s manager (who declines to be named) at Waterloo Street tells 8days.sg that they offered to lower the monthly stall rental for Leong Yeow, but the hawkers did not accept the offer. “We are willing to lower the rent from $7,000 to $5,000 for them, but they still don’t want [to extend their tenure],” he says. He notes that the amount includes fees for dish collection and pest control. According to him, Mr Loy and his family had been paying this $7,000 in rent for the past three years already. 8days.sg reached out to Mr Loy to verify this information - while he didn’t deny it, he declined to address questions relating to rent, saying “I don’t want to speak so much about this [rental] issue”.  

The coffee shop manager shares that there’s low footfall in the area. “The Waterloo [coffeeshop] is in quite bad condition ’cos of the market changes. Lazada [located nearby] just retrenched over 200 employees,” he says. If what he speculates is true, we can only guess that the situation at the chicken rice stall’s neighbouring sister outlet might be similar. However, the coffee shop manager says he has no idea what business is like at Leong Yeow’s other outlet. 8days.sg tried to reach out to Albert Centre for more info, but were unable to contact them. 

Might reopen in future

Longtime patrons have taken to Matthew’s Facebook post to express sadness about Leong Yeow’s impending closure, saying things like “I am really shocked! Have been eating for the last three decades”. 

Matthew recounts that Mdm Sun was always very generous with him when he was a kid: “When we were very young, we always bought three packets of chicken rice ($1.60 x 3) and one packet of plain rice (50 cents), auntie will never forget to give us more meat and charged us only $5 in total.” 

However, it may not be goodbye forever. Mr Loy tells 8days.sg: “A lot of hawkers also rest for a year, and reopen [their stalls] in future. We’re resting now, but we can always reopen later.” 

Leong Yeow Chicken Rice’s last day of operations is on 27 May. Two outlets at BGain 261 Eating House, 261 Waterloo St, S180261 & #01-49 Albert Centre & 70 Queen St, S180270. Waterloo outlet open 11.30am - 8pm; Queen St outlet open 1.30pm - 8pm. Tel: 6334 3989. 

Photos: Google/Tanko Jiak, Facebook/Matthew Abraham Soh, Facebook/Wong Fang Chin

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

8days.sg is now on #tiktok! Follow us on www.tiktok.com/@8dayseat