'It's a reverse trend,' says Fabian Koh, director of operations, sales & marketing at Creative Eateries, the F&B chain that has partnered The Arts House to launch Earshot at Esplanade Mall, a cafe that is also a retail space dedicated to Singapore books, music and film. 'In Singapore it was common to see retail outlets - such as Borders - expand to include F&B, but rarer to have F&B outlets inject retail into their premises. But what we are doing at Earshot could well become the trend here.'
 Earshot is actually a concept that first opened at The Arts House in July 2005. Colin Goh, general manager of The Arts House, says: 'It has been a very encouraging year - both in terms of the overwhelming audience responses, and increasing requests for the space for music gigs, readings and CD/book launches. Excluding the cafe business, which is managed by Restaurant 1827 Thai, Earshot's annual revenue is about $50,000.' By licensing the Earshot brand to Creative Eateries, The Arts House hopes to create additional platforms for Singapore artists.
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Olij Studio
