SINGAPORE, June 28 — For 31 years, it has witnessed gadget trends and computer upgrades come and go.

Come Thursday, the Funan DigitaLife Mall will be shutting its doors for an upgrade of its own — its biggest ever, in fact. The mall’s owner, CapitaLand Mall Trust Management, announced last December that Funan will close for three years to be re-developed into an “experiential creative hub”.

In a three-part series, TODAY speaks with several long-time tenants and their employees about their memories of Funan, and what the mall means to them.

Funan is my ‘second home’

Josephine Soh, 61

While many old-timers claim Funan as a “second home”, few can top Josephine Soh’s intensely personal ties with the mall.

She was among the “pioneers” who started working at Funan Centre, the mall’s original name, when it first opened in 1985. On May 16 that year, she was working in Funan till a few hours before her son’s delivery.

“I wanted to be in the office every day,” said Soh, who first worked at Golden Shine, a consumer electronics store in Funan set up by her then-employer and his wife. “I worked as per normal, knocked off, went home in the evening and later took a cab to the hospital. I only took my maternity leave the next day.”

When her employers retired in 1992, she moved to Cristofori Music School in the same mall where she has been working since as a sales staff.

Asked to describe what it was like working in Funan in the 1980s, Soh said the tenants then were “close like family members” and even shared home-cooked food with each other. Back then, the mall sold more than just IT products, and had tenants selling shirts, CDs and even mahjong sets.

Her family is also intrinsically connected to the mall, despite her insistence on separating work and family time. In the mid-90s, for instance, her son attended Cristofori’s speech and drama classes. For the past three years, her daughter’s young children have been attending weekly music lessons at Cristofori.

Soh will continue to work at Cristofori when the music school relocates to Liang Court on Thursday. She is sad to leave Funan, but at the same time upbeat about a move to a new environment.

“I hope to meet new friends and challenges. I don’t think it will affect the business in any way as most of the students have agreed to follow us, as it’s very near to Funan,” said Soh.

Her wish for the new Funan mall is for it to revert to the “good old days” when it had an eclectic mix of shops, not just those focused on IT products. And ever sentimental about the mall, Soh said it would not be a final farewell when it closes on Thursday.

“It will definitely come back after three years right? So we will still see Funan,” she added.

From secretary to boss

Mary Ann Wong, 64

Wong had zero knowledge of computers when she and her husband got their keys to Micro Interface within Funan Centre in 1984. Three years later, her husband decided to work at a computer assembly company, and handed the keys to Micro Interface to Wong.

Not one to back down from a challenge, she quit her job as a secretary in an engineering firm selling boilers in 1987, rolled up her sleeves and began devoting all her time to running the company.

Over the years, the company has changed its business a few times. It started as an assembler of personal computers, under the brand Micro Interface. However, by the early 90s, the company decided to resell computers made by other companies instead because this was less labour-intensive.

Back then, the mall was very busy, she recalled. “In those days, the mall was abuzz with people, every day it was so crowded.” There were so many people that some days, she had to stop people from coming into her store so she could serve customers already inside.

But within a decade, even reselling computers became too hard. Because things became so competitive, by the late-90s they became a concept store selling Targus products like laptop bags and cables, which they continue to do to this day.

Wong originally planned to enjoy a well-earned retirement after news about the closure of the mall broke, but her many long-time customers urged her not to throw in the towel.

It was because of these customers, whom she now considers her very close friends, that she is still carrying on. Once Funan shuts down, she will move the business over to a small shop on the fifth floor of Sim Lim Square. “A small place but we still exist,” said Wong. — TODAY