Hello does anyone knows whether ordering gundam kits from HLJ is cheaper than buying from the ones around Singapore?
Most of the time, yes it is cheaper, especially if you purchase multiple kits in combined shipping. The reason is because of the retail Yen, decent conversion and the constant price discount by HLJ.
However, the are occasions where it's cheaper/comparable to buy it in local shops. These occasions are mostly clearance sales or heavily discounted sales. For example, if a normal retail store in Singapore like Metro sells a Real Grade Zeta for SGD$52.00, after a 40% discount sale like Hobby Art recently, it becomes SGD$31.20. HLJ sells a RG Zeta for 2400 Yen (SG$30.30 before shipping). If buying locally, buying from local hobby stores is usually better than retail outlets (Sometimes BHG gives great discounts too!).
Then there's those personal sellers who gives massive discounts and those warehouse sales.
But of course, these events are very unreliable in terms of finding the kits you want and when you want it.
So, I'd say buying online is not a bad option since it can help you save and stores like HLJ and Hobby Search are reliable but there's factors like delivery time and the aforementioned shipping to consider too.
I used to prefer buying at Hobby Search since there's a points system which can further help cut purchase cost but now, due to reduced orders, both HLJ and 1999 almost the same.