For avid gamers, you would know of Dreamcore as a top-notch place to get custom-built PCs.
The company was started by three Singaporeans — Shaun Tan, Eugene Lim and Kwan Wei Zhong — who all met at an IT show (no surprises there).
Wei Zhong and Eugene worked for competing companies, and Shaun convinced them to band together to build Dreamcore.
Since its inception in 2016, it has been hitting one milestone after another — from earning 1,000+ five-star reviews, clinching a Top 15 recipient of the Emerging Enterprise Award 2021, achieving more than double year-on-year growth, and a 50 per cent increase in staff headcount.
The team at Dreamcore is now 30-people strong. As part of its fifth-anniversary celebrations, it unveiled today (November 25) its new 10,000 square-foot space as part of its commitment to offer a holistic support experience.
Dubbed Dream Centre, it functions as their expanded office and retail space that comes equipped with concierge and service zones and a state-of-the-art PC assembly. It also features a dedicated esports training facility and an integrated gaming experience centre.
Here’s what to expect when you head down to Dream Centre when they officially open doors to the public on December 1.
The ultimate guided customer experience
Walking into Dream Centre is both inviting and exciting — you will first be greeted by a mural commissioned by a local artist.
Complete with futuristic indoor trees, sleek chrome finishings, and rows of gaming chairs, you’d never want to leave the Dream Centre. In fact, you don’t have to.
The interactive, experiential gaming centre is where you can try out Dreamcore’s range of products, and you are free to stay as long as you like. They are not just being polite when they say that; Dreamcore wants you to feel at home in their space.
Dreamcore truly understands that the world of custom builds, PCs, and even electronics can be intimidating and scary for some. The Dream Centre is equipped with friendly staff who will never try to hard-sell their products to you and are always ready to answer your questions.
There are three Configuration Stations on-site where you can ask any question that comes to mind. Dreamcore sees this as a separate concierge service that adds to the customer experience.
People may have a certain perception of custom builds — and the challenge is helping them overcome certain barriers around perceived complexity and hassle of it. It can be a smooth and informed process and that’s what we served to deliver.
– Shaun Tan, founder and CEO of Dreamcore
What custom PC dreams are made of
The main ethos of Dreamcore is trust. That’s why they opted — in Shaun’s words — “a Din Tai Fung-style” open kitchen concept where you can witness your PC assembly right there and then, if you’re lucky, of course.
It is this transparency, both literally and figuratively, that Dreamcore wants to advocate with this new retail store. This way, you can always be sure of the quality you’re getting and take a peek into the custom PC building world.
Behind the folks assembling your PCs, there is another round of quality control where the diligent staff of Dreamcore’s backend team are running various checks on your PC.
In the upcoming months, the company will also be enhancing its website experience and introducing free workshops to help consumers get more out of their PC builds, whether for content creation and editing, professions, or hobbies.
Dream Centre also houses a dedicated e-sports training room. One of Dreamcore’s current partners is Paper Rex, who is the only Southeast Asian representative in this year’s Valorant Champions Tour Masters, an international eSports tournament in Berlin.
Besides a swanky new retail space with spacious showrooms, Dream Centre is where all the ‘Dream-makers’ make all the magic happen.
We got to take a look at their “Skunk Room” or the R&D room, where Shaun and another staff ideate and test all the products we see under Dreamcore.
There is also a cosy area for staff to have their lunch that comes equipped with a giant pantry and gaming console for staff to unwind.
It’s a flurry of activity at Dreamcore’s new Dream Centre, and it only spells all the exciting things they have in store for us.
Accelerated business growth despite Covid-19
Dreamcore’s growth was accelerated in 2020 when Singapore transitioned to working from home and more customers turned to Dreamcore for their ultimate custom PC set-up for work and play.
This year, with work from home remaining as the default, Dreamcore has seen demand match that of 2020, signalling a growing market for custom PCs in the future “new normal”.
In the next three years, Dreamcore is looking to grow its business two-fold, and continue to create top of the line products to meet the needs of content creators and professionals.
“We’re so proud of how far we’ve come in the last five years. The opening of the Dream Centre is a testament to the hard work and dedication of each and every one of our team, the Dream-makers. We can’t wait to welcome our customers to this space, so they can have an up-close and personal experience of the custom PC building process,” said Shaun.
Those who are keen to visit the new Dream Centre from December 1. It is located at at Precise Tree, 55 Kim Chuan Drive; and will be open from 11am to 8pm on weekdays, and 11am to 6pm on weekends.
Featured Image Credit: Dreamcore