Source: TimeWerke Videos on YouTube
In early December 2018, the Leica camera shop at Raffles Hotel became the first store to open at the refurbished hotel in early December 2018.
Known as the Leica Store Raffles Hotel Arcade, it is a “homecoming” of sorts as this well-known German camera manufacturer opened its very first Leica store in Southeast Asia at the same Raffles Hotel in around 2010.
In addition to the product display area which will also have Leica’s new wristwatches – the L1 and L2, and the photo gallery, there is Café Leitz, a new experiential retail concept. Here, customers can enjoy coffee and petit fours over discussions. “Petit four” in French means “small oven” when translated to English.
Though we had visited the Leica Store at Raffles Hotel Arcade on opening day and the day after, we went back again a few days later to better appreciate what more the shop had to offer.
A conversation began with Serena Teo, guest relations manager at the store, and as trigger-happy Leica users, we decided to share what more we had learnt about Café Leitz.
Basically, for the month of December 2018, Leica has partnered with The Patissier, an innovative bakery based in Singapore offering petit fours with a creative twist. For example, take note that these are served on miniature Peranakan tiles.
For coffee, Leica has engaged Alchemist to offer exotic “white and black” coffee. Peggy is a barista working for Alchemist and is based in Café Leitz. What was even more impressive than the taste of the coffee was Peggy’s knowledge and passion for the brew.
We opted for a filtered coffee called Kochere Debo which comes with a taste of jasmine, apricot and peach. The coffee beans originate from Yirgacheffe, part of the Sidamo region in southern Ethiopia. Most of coffee plants are grown 2,000 metres above sea level.
It was a wonderful experience at the Leica Store, discovering the products as well as having our photography and videography questions answered by their senior sales consultant, Li Hao. Throw in the Ethiopian coffee and petit fours we had, the Leica experience became even more rewarding.
We congratulate Leica Camera AG and Leica Camera Asia Pacific Pte Ltd on the opening of their Leica Store Raffles Hotel Arcade.