The Spanish shoe brand has returned after leaving our island in 2020

Despite their stores’ always fascinating designs, Camper could not draw a steady stream of shoppers to survive. We have not been able to determine when they exited the market here, but we know it was sometime in the 2020s, right in the thick of the COVID pandemic. We remember visiting one of their last stores at VivoCity in early part of that year, and then they were no more. To be certain, the Spanish brand maintained an online presence here, but there are still those, ourselves included, who prefer to visit a physical stores for purchasing, and for them, the good news is: Camper has come back.

The new Camper retail space is not a free-standing store as it was in the past. This time it is a corner at Tangs, itself drastically and dramatically changed. The department store is now reduced to one level of fashion merchandise. Some 90% or more are womenswear, including leather goods and footwear. The entire third floor, where the men’s department was, is now entirely replaced by homeware, appliances, and bedding, all formerly in the basement, which is now replaced by the expanded, refreshed, and rebranded foodcourt. The swankiness of Tangs in their heydays is no more. It is on the congested second level that Camper has curiously opened its new corner.

Past Camper stores was conceived by Spanish interior designer Martí Guixé, who is known for transforming the shoe shop into a platform for customer expression and communication. Instead of traditional layouts, he used the temporary and changeable concept that became synonymous with Camper: Walk in Progress, featuring recycled materials that could be moved around, even encouraging customers, in some cases, to draw on them. Camper truly made their stores a joy to be in, and by extension, made shopping—specifically shoe-buying, fun.

Opened just last week, the new Camper space, to us, lacks the playfulness we always associated with the brand. Shoes like their ‘Twins’—deliberately mismatched pairs—are still appreciated for their whimsy. We always remember their long-bench/table displays, on which seemingly unending rows of their quirky shoes impressed and enticed. Those displays are no more. At Tangs, the shoes are now mostly ‘floating’ on a back wall made of aluminium sheeting. The brand’s signature styles were there when we visited, but the one we truly like, the hybrid Mary-Janes, Karat 2, was not. The long and short of it is Tangs is no longer the fashion store it used to be, and Camper is a rather odd fit. Here’s hoping they won’t have to bow out, again.

Photos: Chin Boh Kay