Tom's Palette set Friday 16 October as its last day after 21 years

Twenty-one years of gelato, and the website gave it a last day: Friday 16 October.

If Tom's Palette was your after-school or after-dinner ritual, its website gives Friday 16 October as the day the business comes to an end, at both 51 Middle Road in Bugis and 212 Hougang Street 21 in Kovan. If you're reading this on the day, go early. If you're reading it later, the one thing left to watch is a buyer: the business has been reported as up for sale, so a new owner could yet pick up the scoop.

The homegrown shop had been scooping since 2005, with Middle Road in Bugis as its home, and for two decades it was the place you took a friend to prove Singapore's dessert scene had a sense of humour. A second outlet in Kovan only arrived in 2024, and expansion followed so quickly by closure tells its own story.

The reasons are less romantic than the flavours. The website says the owners 'lack the resources to turn it into a sustainable business'. The Online Citizen carried a co-owner's remark that the dessert trade thrives just three hours a day. It's a blunt line, and a familiar one for anyone who has watched independent F&B in this city try to cover a full day's rent with an evening's queue.

The last weeks ran as an 'Encore Collection' of the most-requested flavours, a farewell lap for the ones regulars kept asking about.

Check tomspalette.com.sg for the latest, including any news of a new owner, before you mourn properly.

Good to know Tom's Palette's website says it closes on Friday 16 October 2026. Outlets at 51 Middle Road #01-01 (Bugis) and 212 Hougang Street 21 (Kovan). Check tomspalette.com.sg for the latest before you go.

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Tom's Palette | 51 Middle Road #01-01, Singapore 188959