A STORE manned by a robotic arm and a 7-Eleven where customers need not bring purchases to a register are among 10 innovative retail concepts at a new showcase space launched on Monday (Jan 22).

Run by SMRT unit Stellar Lifestyle, Hive 2.0 is a refreshed version of an earlier retail innovation hub that opened in 2022. Located in the Esplanade Xchange underground mall, the space spans 3,200 square feet. (See *Amendment note)

“This year, Hive 2.0 will leverage artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and connected networks to help our merchant partners become more operationally resilient,” said Tony Heng, president of Stellar Lifestyle.

“What you see here today could scale across the train network in the future,” he added.

Among the concepts at Hive 2.0 are six “autonomous retail” set-ups which allow customers to buy items with little to no human intervention.

These include local startup Unistop Tech’s Mr.R Robotics, essentially a room-sized dispensing machine where a robotic arm retrieves purchases from shelves. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can rent spaces to sell their products there, with current items on offer ranging from handmade crochet toys to beverages and snacks.

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Said Unistop Tech founder Irene Zhu: “Rental and manpower costs can be a limiting factor for SMEs to participate in retail, so we hope to partner with more SMEs and enable them to sell their products in a physical space.”

Unistop Tech is one of several companies at Hive 2.0 that were part of Stellar Lifestyle’s Stellarate innovation programme, which awards grants of up to S$70,000 to participating startups.

Another Stellarate participant is Yzel, a startup which rents pop-up physical spaces to SMEs for them to display samples of their products. Customers can scan a product’s QR code to pay and arrange for home delivery via Yzel’s online platform.

Also at Hive 2.0 is 7-Eleven’s first autonomous shop in Singapore. Customers simply tap their credit card upon entry, pick up what they need and leave. When they leave, their purchases are detected by smart cameras and automatically charged to their credit cards.

Apart from shopping at the 7-Eleven in person, workers at the nearby South Beach development can also make purchases through an app and have these delivered to their offices, thanks to a tie-up with robotic delivery service Quikbot.

In addition to retail concepts, Hive 2.0 is also home to Hive Kitchen, a co-working kitchen run by food and beverage incubator IncuBaker.

Stellarate participant Marie’s Lapis, which specialises in Peranakan food, intends to pilot a fully automated kueh lapis-making machine in Hive Kitchen. Currently in the development stage, the machine is expected to be available to users of the kitchen by year-end.

Said Marie’s Lapis founder Christopher Lim: “There are many innovators and small business owners like myself at Hive 2.0 and I’m looking forward to collaborating with them to bring about convenience for our customers.”

*Amendment note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the floor area of Hive 2.0 is 32,000 square feet. The actual floor area is 3,200 square feet.