The undying love for his mother
So I decided to just help her lah, because at that time, COVID, you can't do anything. Nobody can go out. So, but the shop business is good because everybody stays at home. Everybody has to buy and eat, that's what we do.
So, she recovered and then came back. And then she got a second COVID. So, after second COVID, I said, "Why don't you stay at home? I'll just look after the shop for you full time until we find a solution." So, that's how I ended up manning the shop. So, that's almost six years now.
The shifting local context
I mean, when I close shop, sometimes I close shop at 10 or 11 o'clock, there's people coming back from work. They stop by to buy things. I know they just finished work. So, I mean, sometimes in the process of closing I continue to serve them. Because I think they needed food, they needed drinks, you know, whatever, needed something for tomorrow morning breakfast, so I will continue to accede to their needs, even though I'm like, shop was partially closed by then. But in the earlier days, now that I recall back, people kind of finished work at 5pm, 6pm. Most people are around the neighbourhood. So, in the evening, you see a lot of neighbours coming down to the void deck, to chit-chat, to talk.
Nowadays, you hardly see... except some... even the older folks don't come out as much. In the past, you can still see people here hanging around. Now, the only people who hang around in the void deck are the young people, you know, chatting with their friends, one or two of them, or even some foreigners, foreigners who... you know, foreign workers, they'll hang around, chit-chat with their friends. But by and large, that's the major change.
So, that's why, you see, from what I read in the Straits Times when they interviewed me last year in October, they actually found that when the mama shop first started in the 80s, I think I have four to five hundred shops of this kind of nature. Today, only like 200 plus operators, how are they gone? Because the younger generation no longer wants to do this kind of work, and the older one are too old to continue to operate. Imagine if I did not help my mum, did not stop whatever I'm doing to help my mother. This shop will be closed much much earlier.
The challenges of running a Mama Shop
"We tried to employ people, but the person didn't stay too long. Yes, maybe a year, two years. It's hard to... And also because of the scale, you can't employ more than one, because your operation overhead could be too high. And also now wages are so high. So, it no longer makes sense. So, we look at more how to do things differently, like automating certain things and doing away with more laborious items."
We rely on family resources. And these days, when families are also being stretched, I mean, the children... I mean, I'm single. So, in the past, my siblings will all chip in to help my mother and my father. Come to my time when I ask my nephews and niece to help. They're always busy haha. They're not so willing.
"People come to me and say, "Hey, do you have this thing?" I mean, maybe they need something urgent. Do you have that? Or they're on the way home and they need a drink.
Or... I mean, they need a pack of cigarettes. I don't know whether you're censored on cigarettes because I'm talking about smoking. So, still people who smoke... I mean, I don't smoke myself, but from what I understand, when you smoke, when you run out of cigarettes, you really need cigarettes. So, they will stop by, buy cigarettes, drinks. So, the kind of customer demands kind of change, I would call this more of a convenience store."
"So even the POSB, I mean, a few years ago when I tried to go and buy some stamps to sell, they no longer allow me to purchase from their branches, and I had to go to the HQ, which is I think at Paya Lebar to buy, which I find a bit very far to travel there just to buy a stamp. So I no longer sell stamps, even though we still have a license from POSB to sell stamps, the poster services."
A heart for the people...
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For example, hiring a person adds up cost, then we, in order to survive, we have to sell things more expensive. Then, because we don't have the scale, we may eventually... Our business may decline and we may be forced to close the shop. So, that's why for the past few years, I just ran the shop by myself. So, it's very taxing. I do about 14 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 362 days a year for the last six years. Crazy, isn't it?