We are all fans of DIY culture, you may belong to the group of people who are too cheapskate to pay someone to do something that seems so simple or the group that really enjoys learning about craft and making! However, finding stores that sells supplies might not be so easy on our tiny island of Singapore! We created a collection of shops we can’t live without.

Art Friend (Bras Basah, Plaza Singapura)

If you are into arts and crafts, Art Friend is the place to go. From uhu glue silicon plaster materials, you can probably find plenty of quality materials here. As these items are not widely available, they do not come cheap and in fact if you compare prices, they are more expensive! If you are a frequent shopper, remember to get their membership card!

Daiso (multiple locations)

For everything random, head to Daiso! A haven for all things $2, Daiso offers a wide array of affordable interesting finds and funky stuff you can use for all your handicraft needs. A great fact about Daiso is that their items are refreshed quite frequently, so expect to see something different every time!

Popular Bookstore (Bras-Basah)

Probably the go-to place for many kiasu parents, Popular is popular (pun intended) with the everyday person. Great for stationaries, cutters and stuff, you can find basic items here and I would recommend the outlet at Bras Basah as it is the biggest (from my limited experience) store there is around town.

Nanyang Hardware (Sims Drive)

Located on the edge of Geylang and Sims Drive is my personal favorite hardware shop. I frequent this place for their cement and tools, which are offered cheaply as their main target consumers are the construction workers, so everything here is reasonably priced. That said, for the potato folks (jiak-kan-tang) who do not speak conversational mandarin, please brush up your charades skills cuz most of them here are Chinese speaking people from China!

Hong Soon Hardware

This place doesn’t sell anything other than copper. With that said, you can find everything made out of copper here! The friendly people at Hong Soon sells copper pipes, copper T-joints, copper angled connector and adaptors of all shapes and sizes. The best thing about them is that they are super friendly, even to blur dudes like me! They have most things sorted neatly in their trays and be nice and they will reciprocate!

IKEA (Tampines & Alexandra)

The reviews are mixed on this one, some say the furniture are of poor quality but I have been purchasing their wares and smaller items and they have been really useful! On that note, IKEA sells loose parts of furniture ranging from random slabs of tabletops to even steel legs and rollers that will be useful for any furniture DIY learner who is just starting out. If the stuff there ain’t to your liking, why not head to the restaurant for some chicken and meatballs? Just avoid the weekend tho, it’s a crowd-fest you don’t want to get into.

Ezbuy (previously known as 65 Daigou)

I’d like to think that my Mandarin is decent but for the life of me, I can’t read! At least not fast enough for me not to get frustrated by it. Ezbuy to the rescue! A 3^rd party online platform, Ezbuy offers customers shopping from site like Taobao in English, all through a useful app. From little trinkets to household items, you can probably find them here. Although much can be desired for its below standard payment options, other than that, the platform is perfect!

Concrete Everything online

Last but definitely not the least, this opinion is definitely biased, but we do try to make the stuff we use to create, tools and materials readily available to people out there. We have had requests to place these items online, so we will be working to list the essential materials needed to create your own lamp, planter and specifically, concrete stuff online soon! Find them here: https://concrete-everything.com/collections/diy

Do you have anywhere else to recommend? Share them with us!

Please note that Concrete Everything in no way was paid to neither advertise any of these shops nor have received any compensation for this post. All opinions and recommendation is solely from our own personal experience!