COVID-19 closures: Gallery & Co. at the National Gallery liquidated on retail woes
SINGAPORE – Gallery & Co., the National Gallery’s museum store and cafeteria, is being liquidated, according to a statement shared by its management By AndCo today (7 August).
By AndCo decided to terminate their management of the shop due to the challenges brought about by COVID-19. Opened in November 2015, the space featured specially designed products for the museum including books, collectibles, and prints. It also served as a casual dining venue which comprised of a café and cafeteria that overlooked the Padang.
By AndCo provided Yahoo Lifestyle SEA with a statement: “Our journey with Gallery & Co has ended. Back in 2014, a few of us came together with big aspirations. The National Gallery was being put together and we felt that we needed to do our part to help build a museum experience that we can be proud of as a nation. Just like the greatest museums around the world. Amongst us, we called this our ‘national service’. &Co was further built into our brand name because we wanted to leverage Gallery & Co as a platform to showcase our local brands and to boost regional support for cottage industry. We invested a lot of our personal resources with the best of intentions.
“Fast forward to today, unfortunately, the business volume cannot support our operating model despite our collective best efforts. We are hugely dependent on tourism and retail. With COVID, both sectors were severely impacted. Gallery & Co is now under liquidation. The company’s assets and liabilities will be organised accordingly within the appropriate legal framework in the fairest way possible by a neutral third party.
“To friends who have supported us, we could not advise you individually and separately on the winding down of the Company, as it should be via the liquidator and through due process so that the same information is released to everyone at the same time. But please be assured that the liquidator will process our assets on hand as fairly as possible to the affected parties.
“Many of you who have claims on the company, please remember to contact Marjorie Windrath at mwindrath@perunconsultants.com.
“The National Gallery will be setting up a new and separate management entity to operate the Gallery & Co brand name. Specific details are in the midst of being formulated. For our supporters and friends, we feel your pain. It is heart-breaking. All of us are entrepreneurs who risked our capital and livelihood to pursue our passions. We wish this had ended on better terms.
“Despite this, we have achieved much together over the past 6 years. We are part of many of our customers’ good memories and experiences. Taking the positives of this, please keep your dreams alive. We hope our paths will cross again on much better terms.
“Please take good care of yourself, stay well and stay safe.”
However, the closure has left a burden on stockists whose funds have suffered as a result.
The Little Drom Store, one of Gallery & Co.’s stockists, shared on their official Facebook page yesterday that they have not been paid for goods sold since November 2019, amounting to S$12,000.
“So we just received an email from Gallery and Co’s liquidator firm, informing us of their closure. We are also required to submit forms and show proof of debt.”
“We have not been paid for goods sold since November 2019, with amounts totalling S$12,000. And we currently have almost S$30,000 worth of goods sitting in their shop that we have no access to. 10 years into the retail business, we have never felt so cheated, stupid, and disappointed before, with the team going radio silence on us. We trusted you, top-up goods promptly, agreed to a credit term, and sponsored gifts for your events,” the statement reads.
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