Shopkeeper Stories

Tag: friendship

  • Juicy competition

    Juicy competition

    Night after night, a familiar sight unfolds on the bustling street corner. The vendor’s cart takes centre stage, drawing a lively crowd. Customers call out the names of their fruit juice – watermelon! mango and orange! avocado! He gives a nod to confirm that he’s heard the request, and whips up the juice on the…

  • Sharing a table with strangers

    Sharing a table with strangers

    The aunty in pink has been working as a hawker for over 40 years. As I sat near her stall chowing down a delicious plate of hor fun (flat white noodles), a man in his 70s came by with a bottle of beer and asked if he could sit at my table. I said: of…

  • Spice of life

    Spice of life

    Poonam runs a provision shop selling Indian ingredients in a market cluster where you can find hawkers selling fruits, poultry, vegetables, dried beans and other goods for the kitchen. Her shop was open for less than a year at the time of interview, and this is her first business. Poonam does not need to work…

  • The sole of business

    The sole of business

    In a culture where it is common to buy and throw things away at an increasing rate—phones, friends, furniture—Chia Chong Sin is in the business of preservation. His work reminds us that there are more to material things than their monetary value, and that another value—sentimental value—still matters. His trade is not just about reviving…

  • What’s your beef?

    What’s your beef?

    “I started helping my father in primary school. At first it was only during school holidays, but then I left school to help him every day. While he was doing deliveries, I took care of the stall. At the time, I was still quite young, so I found the work quite fun.  I taught myself…

  • 15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part II]

    15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part II]

    Urban Runway The hawker centre in Singapore is noisy and spontaneous and the centre of gravity for much of our routine social action. In this post, I’d like to present 10 scenes of activity in exactly the same place. Far from the glitz and glamour of Marina Bay Sands, this is the ordinary picture of life that most of…

  • 15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part I]

    15 minutes in a hawker centre in Singapore [Part I]

    Urban Runway While drinking a mug of sugarcane juice, I took out my camera to document the people walking by in the exact same spot. This set of photos captures the mix of the crowd from “suits” to “slippers” to “stylish seniors” on bikes. Welcome to the tropics of Singapore! You can see Part II of the…

  • Magic Lamps

    You will meet Ali at a shop that sells carpets and lamps along Arab Street in Singapore. These street shops are like windows of observation into the world. “Many interesting people come here. One time, two friends who had been separated for 15 years found each other by chance in this shop.”