Jem shopping mall hit by five-hour blackout

For nearly five hours, a power outage plunged several shops at Jem shopping mall into darkness on Sunday night.

Some businesses came to a halt, while others continued serving their customers - albeit in creative ways.

Ms Elva Ong, 27, a hairstylist at Pro Trim Hair Studio, told The New Paper that her colleagues used the corridor light and their mobile phone torchlights to continue with the haircuts.

"Some of our customers were in the middle of (their) hair treatment, we sent them to our nearest outlet at Woodlands in a cab. We also gave some of them discounts," she said.

They also had to cancel three appointments for the night and rejected another four walk-in customers.

Ms Ong said: "It was challenging, but the customers were understanding."

A spokesman for the Jurong East mall said that the power outage occurred at about 6.10pm and affected some shop units on several levels of the mall.

The spokesman said: "The management team responded immediately and the mall's appointed licensed electrical worker was also onsite to assist in recovery."

The power supply was partially restored at 8pm and fully restored at 10.53pm.

Patrons were ushered out of the Cathay Cineplexes on the fifth level where the power went out.

A spokesman for Cathay Cineplexes told Shin Min Daily News that 26 movies were disrupted and more than 700 customers were affected.

"Patrons affected by the cancellation of the shows due to the power outage can proceed to Cathay Cineplexes at JEM from now till Wednesday (Oct 18, 2017) with their original ticket stubs to collect their refunds. Those who bought their tickets online will automatically receive a refund to their credit card," said the spokesman.

Mr Ray Tan, 35, was in the queue to purchase movie tickets when the power outage happened.

He told TNP: "The lights went out, then the screens behind the counter went out. It was frustrating and I waited for about 30 minutes before giving up and going to the cinema at JCube instead."

Restaurants were also affected. Mr Adrian Saravanan, 45, a restaurant manager at Pastamania, said that the power outage caused a drop in business. It resulted in severe food wastage.

He told TNP: "Some of our ingredients like the chicken and all of our seafood were spoiled. The ice cream also melted and we had to throw away everything."

He added that it was "very frustrating because there was no announcement made and no mall management staff informed us about anything".

Ms Jovie Bagabiong, 26, a manager at fastfood chain Mos Burger, said that the night sales dropped about $1,000 as the outage happened during the dinner peak hour.

Jem had been plagued by fires and a ceiling falling in the months after its opening in 2013. There was a power outage there in 2014. Last week, a small fire broke out in the carpark of the mall, but was put out quickly.