2018 marks the 5th anniversary of OWNDAYS in Singapore. From this beautiful, sunny garden city of 5-million population, OWNDAYS embarked on its international foray with the launch of its first retail store outside Japan. That was in 2013. Since then, the brand has grown at a tremendous speed both in Singapore and around the region. Today, there are more than 200 OWNDAYS stores around the world, with over 100 of them outside Japan.
On 21 March 2018, some 280 guests came together in The Joyden Hall to celebrate this remarkable milestone for OWNDAYS. Besides the staff of OWNDAYS Singapore, we were honoured to have business partners, friends and our colleagues from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia taking time off to join us on this special night.
The theme for the night was Retro Chic and the guests came dressed in all sorts of iconic outfits from the 50s all the way to the 90s. Custom photo wall has become quite a fixture in recent OWNDAYS events and it was of course a must-have this time too. Shortly after, a long line of guests waiting for their photos to be taken was formed. On the other hand, the crew members were busy printing out photos on the spot for guests to bring home as mementos.
Before the start of the night, Area Manager Trevor led everyone in observing a minute of silence as a gesture of respect and tribute following the recent passing of our colleague Adeline.
We welcomed the official opening of the OWNDAYS SUMMIT 2018 IN SINGAPORE with a video collage of our OWNDAYS lives. Along with upbeat music and a groovy display of laser and smoke effects, it was a medley of sensory experience that got everyone all hyped up.
Two of the most important people for the night, MC Massa and MC Ann, made their appearance, running up the stage from the centre of the hall. They held the key role of making sure all the guests enjoy themselves throughout the night!
Managing Director Umiyama san announced a new staff reward initiative that would be launched on 01 April 2018. The initiative is called STAPA and it basically allows each employee to earn miles in exchange for gifts or other form of experiential benefits. In essence, STAPA is like the mileage system offered by airlines and the staff can look forward to enjoying a new kind of employee welfare at OWNDAYS.
6 finalists from each of the Rookie and Full Cert category battled it out for the prestigious chance to represent Singapore in the OWNDAYS I.R.A.C. World Stage that would be held in Tokyo in April.
Finalists from the Rookie category were Sam Yong (SingPost Centre), Andy Lim (Bugis+), Liu Wei Jie (SingPost Centre), Jackie Khoo (ION Orchard), Alex Han (nex) and Alex Chan (Northpoint City).
Finalists from the Full Cert Category were Stanley Ng (100 AM), Daniel Chan (nex), Jay Teo (Head Office), Adam Lim (Marina Square), Kenshin Loke (Bedok Mall) and Trevor Hwong (Head Office).
This year, to switch things up a little, guests were invited to guess the winner of the contest by dropping a card with their name into the individual boxes bearing the 12 finalists’ names. The winner from each category would then pick a lucky supporter who would receive an attractive prize.
When the contest started, everyone gathered at the front of the stage to watch the finalists put their best into making the most perfect pair of rimless glasses.
“10, 9, 8, 7...3, 2, 1! Time’s up!” The 15-minute time limit whisked by in the blink of an eye and that was it! The fate of the finalists lied in the hands of the 3 judges – Toku san (General Manager of OWNDAYS Singapore), Steven (Global Optician Trainer) and Canny (Optician Trainer).
It was time for dinner! Everyone was famished and had gathered at the buffet lines as soon as the food was ready to be served. We enjoyed a sumptuous dinner while catching up with one another. Meanwhile, the photo booth was available again and guests were having fun snapping selfies and wefies!
With the guests donning outfits in the Retro Chic theme, it was certainly a must to pick out the ones with the most creative, most coordinated outfits. However, before that, we had a special guest on stage. Talking about outfits and styles, we have to give it up to Short Pants CEO who is so nicknamed for wearing only shorts all year round! Short Pants CEO greeted everyone and even took a selfie from the stage with all the guests in the background.
“Compass One, Raffles City, Nex!” MC Massa called out the top 3 best dressed teams.
The representative of each of the 3 shops strode down an imaginary catwalk through the centre of the hall and up to the stage in a fashion show style. The bubbly female staff from Raffles City team won the loudest cheers from the guests and won the No. 1 Best Dressed award for her team! Congratulations Raffles City team!
Next up was the game segment where the guests were each given an alphabet and asked to form the words, OWNDAYS, simple, quick and valuable. The alphabets were given out randomly and the fastest groups of guests to form the words correctly would each win a prize. As soon as the MC read out a word, guests were already rushing onto the stage. OWNDAYS Singapore staff were indeed very quick, just like one of the key brand concepts!
As a recognition of the contribution of the staff who had stood out among others in their performance in the past year, 3 awards were given out.
2018 Best Refraction and Dispensing award went to Avenlyn Chong Yee Ling. The genteel lady was surprised by her win and was at a loss for words when she received her award from GM Toku san.
2018 Best Sales award went to Jack Tay Yang Jian. His dedication to OWNDAYS won cheers from everyone in the hall.
“Lyvern Lie Limun!!” The guests erupted into loud cheers when MC Massa announced the winner of the 2018 Best Shop Manager award. Her team from nex outlet was as delighted as the winner herself and they joined her on stage as Lyvern received her award.
Well done award winners! You’ve set yourselves as good examples for all and we hope you’ll continue to inspire your colleagues to do the same!
The moment of truth had arrived at last. It was time to find out the results of the OWNDAYS I.R.A.C. Singapore Stage! The 12 finalists were visibly nervous while the guests on the other hand could hardly contain their excitement.
Winner of the Rookie category went to Jackie. It was his first appearance on the Singapore stage and he had successfully clinched the ticket to the Japan World Stage! Bravo! His supporter Fion was the lucky one whose name was picked by Jackie and she received a prize for believing in Jackie.
Winner of the Full Cert category went to Stanley. Nicknamed the King of Rimless Glasses, Stanley had been a regular in the contest and had finally claimed champion this time! Needless to say, Stanley’s supporter box was almost filled to the brim and Khairil was the lucky supporter who won the prize!
Amidst cheers and applause, the champions of the 2018 OWNDAYS I.R.A.C. Singapore Stage were born! Jackie and Stanley are now one step closer to the World No.1 glory and we are certain the Singapore team will be the one bringing back the champion title for the fourth time running!
With more new shops set to open in 2018, this Shop Manager General Election was the biggest scale ever with a total of 28 spots available. There were over 60 applicants and 30 had passed through the qualifying round. The election format was also changed this year in order to cater to more participation from the staff since it was after all the staff who would choose their leaders. As part of the final round, candidates had to response to questions raised by their fellow colleagues. The Q&A session was recorded and uploaded online. After two rounds of company-wide voting, the final top 28 candidates would be appointed shop managers with effect from 01 April 2018.
Cheers from the guests were incessant as the results came onto the screen. In first place was Lyvern! She had just bagged the Best Shop Manager accolade and there she was, the top shop manager in the general election!
The 28 new shop managers received their appointment certificates from GM Toku san. Every one of them was beaming with joy! We hope they would continue to lead OWNDAYS Singapore to greater heights!
The lights in the house dimmed and a video came onto the screen. The crew were all taken back as the segment was not in the production script. It was the annual OWNDAYS by OWNDAYS award video and the winner’s picture shown at the end of the video was Rain Wong from head office!
Rain was in shocked and burst into tears as soon as she saw her name on the screen. Even MC Massa was moved to tears and could barely say a word. The management and the AMs had kept this a top secret, quietly preparing for the award presentation.
Congratulations Rain! We’ve all seen your dedication and commitment to your work and are blown away. We hope you’d continue to do your best!
Group CEO Tanaka san spoke to everyone in English this time! He was heartened by the 5-year milestone of OWNDAYS Singapore and encouraged everyone to work towards achieving the 10-year milestone next. He also shared his vision of having a local staff fully in-charge of OWNDAYS Singapore one day.
The staff were inspired by Tanaka san’s words and were determined to continue striving for the best!
The finale of the night was our usual event tradition – the OWNDAYS cheer.
Yeah Yeah OWNDAYS!!!!
With everyone feeling all hyped up, the OWNDAYS SUMMIT 2018 IN SINGAPORE ended on a splendid note. We had celebrated our accomplishments for the past year and it is now time to work hand in hand to write a new chapter for OWNDAYS Singapore.
This was OWNDAYS SUMMIT IN SINGAPORE 2018, a happy time and a great memory that we saved within our original Instagram photo frame!
