Shopkeeper Stories

Today, I went to the Sustainable Christmas Fair to look for unique products to feature at the shop. It also felt great to catch up with existing partners outside of my usual shop setting, for a change! Sourcing products is a grind. I need to keep visiting fairs to discover new items, and it’s an easy way to meet decision-makers face-to-face. Fortunately, I’ve always loved going to indie markets.…

I have been running my shop for 7 months now, yet I haven’t taken the time to share my reflections properly beyond scatterings on Instagram. It feels like the right moment to begin writing. I find myself grappling with uncertainty: is my reflection even worth sharing? I also worry about judgment: will others condescend me for my naïveté? Moreover, there’s a real concern that being too candid…

One of the most beautiful traits of the coffee houses (or eating houses) in Singapore is that anyone come in and feel at ease over a hot meal or drink. There is no gender divide: women are just as welcome as men. There is little class consciousness: in fact, strangers across social strata often share a table (my photoessays here and here expose the diversity of people donning suits to slippers).…

An extract from the book How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino (1937): “Fishmongers, greengrocers, grilled sweet potato stalls, rice merchants, candy shops– tiny stores with facades no more than three or four meters wide lined both sides of the narrow street, jostling shoulder to shoulder for room. The small, dimly lit shops had narrow eves over their entrances, so low that any adult could reach…

A shophouse in the alley

Srey (on the left) migrated from a rural Cambodian village. She moved to the city to earn cash for her parents who are still working in the fields.

In the city, she joined her older brother who had migrated earlier, together with his wife and son.

All four of them live together in a small room room tucked discreetly into the alley. This room serves as both their private home and a public store.

Making ends meat 🥩 Finding a way to manage cashflow #microenterprise #MSME

Nas sells meat while her husband cruises the city streets in his tuk-tuk as a driver.

I asked her why she chose to sell meat in the market rather than clothes. She said it is easier to sell meat because she doesn’t need to pay for the supply upfront (unlike clothes where you need to buy the merchandise). She only pays the distributor after she’s sold the meat. This made it easier to enter the…

Juicy competition: how small businesses collaborate to get ahead together #microenterprise #MSME #streetvendor

He always has an eager crowd milling around him on the street. They call out the names of their fruit juice, and he whips it up on the spot.

One night, I noticed another enthusiastic young lad parked his cart right next to him, offering the exact same selection of juices.

Naturally, the crowd split between both men, so that they could get their juice faster.

Jokingly, I said: “Now you have…

3 tips to flourish at a market: Beautiful & eye-catching presentation (for a first impression). Personalised service (to get them hooked). Exceptional quality products (to bring people back) #MSME #microenterprise #streetvendor

Thyda can easily detect whether a fish came from a freshwater lake or an artificial farm. She says that farm fish are fed chemicals to keep them healthy, which make them slimy. As a result, they don’t dry well.

Thyda has been in the business of dried fish (and sea snakes) for over 30 years. She first learned the trade from her parents who were fishermen. When they stopped fishing, she started…

A river of protein: The Mekong River is the largest supplier of protein in the region with over 1,100 species of fish. Mekong is second in its bio-diversity only to the Amazon River! #microenterprise #MSME

A lady chills on a platform surrounded by plastic buckets of iced seafood in the humid market in Cambodia: fish, eels, stingray, water snakes, prawns, cockles–  a sea of protein.

The Mekong River is the largest supplier of protein in the region with over 1,100 species of fish. Mekong is second in its bio-diversity only to the Amazon River!

Hence, the menu in Cambodia is filled with seafood…

Breakfast banter: markets are spaces where acquaintances meet, and news gets transferred, hence bringing the community into the loop of current affairs. #bazaar

Early one morning, a few of us huddled around a vendor who was cooking noodles called “Lot Cha” លតឆា during the bustle of breakfast. The air was thick was humidity.

At our corner, a lady broke the news about her friend’s newborn baby who had just died. The other women condoled her in hushed tones.

The infant mortality rate in Cambodia is relatively high at 26 deaths (per 1,000 live births),…

Hanging by a thread: she teaches literature in the morning, and sells clothes at night in a market in Cambodia. #microenterprise

When I was browsing elephant pants at the Night Market, Chamroeun introduced me to the variety of clothes at her stall to encourage me to expand my taste, somewhat.

I was impressed by her English, and took the chance to learn more about her trade. As it turned out, Chamroeun was also a Literature teacher.

She hawks her goods from 6:00pm to 11:00pm every night, then wakes up early each morning to…

Fishy History: Ny comes from a family of fishermen, and she has always sold fish. However, during the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, all businesses came screeching to a halt. Ny was forced to labour in the fields. #microenterprise

Ny comes from a family of fishermen, and she has always sold fish. However, during the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, all businesses came screeching to a halt. Ny was forced to go to the countryside to labour in the fields. Meanwhile, scholars and artists were shot.

When Ny described how people had to wear black clothes under the Khmer Rouge, I looked around and appreciated the cheerful colours that…

What are you cooking today?

I step into a market in Cambodia. The atmosphere is dim with bulbs hanging listlessly from zinc rooftops, and Maret is sitting on a wooden platform surrounded by raw meat that she is chopping on a circular wooden block.

She says, quietly: “I quit school to support my parents who live in the countryside. They told me to start a business. I was terrified. I thought I would have no customers.”

I…

Chenda used to work in the fields of Cambodia, but the harvest could not support her family, so she started a business in Siem Reap to reap cash. Her advice to shopkeepers: be friendly. Business is all about good relationships!

She says that the worst thing about working in a market is when other vendors undercut her prices to steal her customers. Sometimes, they call out lower prices to her…

If the stock is stuck, our cash is stuck: A bookshop owner tells us how they started the business, and built it up book by book. @woodsinthebooks

Two book lovers named Shannon and Mike fell in love with the idea of starting a bookshop together in 2009— and they did it. Ten years later, their shop is an iconic destination for other book lovers, and they even started a second brand. Shannon walks us through the life of a business owner in our interview at their flagship store called Woods in the Books.

How it all began

I was working as an…

How to keep a bookshop meaningful in an era of online shopping: one business owner shares their approach

Grassroots Book Room is a place to fall in love with books: floor to ceiling stacks of books with wooden ladders that invite you to climb and explore the tantalizing unknowns. Walk in a little further, and you will see a corner cafe where readers are absorbed in the spell of their book and tea.

I met with one of the 3 owners, Lim Jen Erh, who gave a brief history of the business, and explained…