SUNGAI CHOH (24) : Once Upon A Time | A Small Shop

A Small Shop

(By The Main Road To Tanjung Malim)

A Small Shop

Convinience Store

Learning Material

"Kedai Majid"

Store's Popularity

I did not really remember when my dad started his business. Just a small shop by the main road to Tanjung Malim. Occasionally villagers called it a convenience store. Of course not a mini market. At the time, the word "mini market" was quite rare to the ears. However all kinds of items were in the shop; candy for children, cigarretes for young people and medicines for older villagers, as well as teaching and learning materials for primary schools. By then “Kedai Majid” was quite popular among the villagers regardless of age. Anyway,  I also shared the store's popularity as Majid's son.

Cowboy Town

Merely Middlemen

Rubber Tappers

"Puntung Berasap"

Wooden Shops

At that time there were only a few shops in Sungai Choh, which I could count on with 5 fingers. Thus, characterised a small cowboy town with a wild west feeling. Yet no lawman or gunfighter appeared on a horseback. There were also shops owned by the Chinese. However there was no Chinese community in the neighbourhood. They were merely middlemen, buying rubber latex and rubber scrapes from the villagers. So that's how the villagers lived as rubber tappers as well as labourers and government servants for the rest of their lives in times of "puntung berasap". So those were the days, when a row of wooden shops with half-rusted zinc roofs occupied both sides of the main street. Serving as the main supplier of households.

Nasi Lemak

Less Crowded

Regular Customers

Customers' Hearts

Satisfied Customers

However I used to cross the road to buy pulut sambal bilis from Taha's coffee shop for my favourite breakfast. Occasionally nasi lemak from Junas's coffee shop. Since Sungai Choh was a small village with less crowded, my dad tended to know every villager. So there was not much of a problem getting regular customers. At That time the word “advertisement” was not in his vocabulary. He just believed that, "business not only sells goods but also buys customers' hearts". Thus, his words were a promise, but then I found out that my father was true to his words. So customers were always right, and only satisfied customers would be good advertisement.