Unknown Fate of Shops | Tanjong Katong Complex
The Mall: Trades of Yesteryears
Owner of K2 Watch Co, Mr Goh, hard at work repairing a watch for his customer.
Walk into any shopping mall in Singapore today and it’s more than likely that you will find at least one shop selling watches. From staples like Casio and Timex, to luxury brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe, there seems to be no shortage of options for the modern day consumer to take their pick from. However, should you be considering getting a Seiko watch, it is more than likely that during your research, you would have come across the name of Mr Goh Seng Moh, as well as that of his shop, K2 Watch Co.
Having picked up the art of horology from his father at the tender age of 12, Mr Goh first opened shop at Tanjong Katong Complex in 1982 at the #03-K2 unit that eventually inspired his business’ name. Even after shifting over to the larger unit at #03-K1, the name stuck, and Mr Goh has been plying his trade at the mall ever since, working six and a half days a week, with only an annual holiday during Chinese New Year. Over the last 35 years, Mr Goh has developed a reputation for being a veritable expert in Seiko watches, and even till this day, owners of the brand’s watches still travel down to Tanjong Katong Complex to have their watches repaired by him.
In light of the watch industry’s current status in Singapore, it is uncertain as to whether or not smaller family shops like K2 will eventually disappear altogether. As Mr Goh once mentioned in a separate interview, “Young people should do something else. Watchmaking is hard work and requires very long hours.” Perhaps, with the modern generation’s inclination towards consumerism and without a successor that he can impart his knowledge too, Mr Goh has resigned to the fact that watch making and repairing is an art that is destined to be lost in the future. However, unlike many of his fellow tenants at the mall, Mr Goh has mentioned that he had no immediate plans to retire should the building be demolished as “watchmaking was his passion”, instead declaring that he would wait to see what the future holds, both for the mall and himself.
Ms Ivy's (Owner of Ivy's Boutique) talents are displayed through her nimble fingers and skillful use of the sewing machine.
Ivy’s business seems to be dwindling because of the lack of foot traffic and the rise of fast fashion in Malay youths in recent years. Her designs and customization is still very much well-loved by the older generations and are in demand during festivals and wedding ceremonies. However, Tanjong Katong Complex does not entice the younger generations to visit and hold no value to people who simply wish to shop for casual clothing. The result is a deathly silent mall with barely a handful of people strolling around, usually visiting the renovation and hardware shops.
Previously, Ivy’s customized clothes received so much love that she had to enlist the help of her children because she simply could not handle the sheer amount of work. However, her children has no interest in taking over the business. Therefore, Ivy will most likely retire and close the business once the building’s lease has expired.
For traditional fashion boutiques like Ivy’s, they must rely on regular customers or online orders. Ivy has an online store that showcases her unique patterns and caters to female customers of all ages. She sells Baju Kurong, Baju Melayu, tailor-made clothes, and accessories at https://ivldesign.neocities.org/. Ivy also offers discounted deals. If customers' orders exceed $100, she delivers for free.
Mr Rachmat Suswantho (Owner of Sufia's Gallery), sporting his signature Cowboy Hat.
Mr Suswantho shows us an intricately carved Arabic word piece that he received from a foreign customer in Morocco.
Sufia’s Gallery is an art gallery selling different forms of Islamic art. Its owner Rachmat Suswantho, a passionately traditional man nicknamed ‘Cowboy’ for his habit of wearing a cowboy hat, claims that he is the last practitioner of traditional Malay calligraphy that people know from word of mouth. That gave him recognition not just in Singapore, but in other Islamic countries as far as Morocco too. Several of his foreign customers have even given him tokens of appreciation, mostly artwork. He keeps these in his shop located at #02-33, ready on display for anyone who is interested to learn more about his practice and the culture behind it. Being the last such true embodiment of traditional Malay culture, Mr Suswantho is a strong advocate of his trade. He steps out of his shop regularly to promote the Malay culture he loves. One can see several newspaper clippings of him teaching workshops at polytechnics and other venues.
Before stepping into this profession, he was a loadmaster on Singapore Airlines for 25 years. He left Singapore Airlines for Sufia’s Gallery in 2000, and has remained since. Regarding today’s business landscape, he recognizes the need to expand his means of outreaching, on top of word of mouth that he thrives on. Therefore, he has an active Facebook, Twitter, and even Carousell profile. He hopes that people who viewed his works on social media may be enticed into visiting his place to see his ethereal artworks for themselves.
Mr Loh Luan Pan (current owner and relative of founder of Ailin's) and Ailin's Bakery House. Mr Loh has been working here for 28 years.
Even though Tanjong Katong Complex opened in 1983, Ailin Bakery House has been around way earlier, starting business in 1980. It is named after one of the shop’s owners Madam Loh Ailin. It is now operated by her relative Mr Loh Luan Pan, who has been involved in this shop for 28 years with other staff. It is a bakery essentials shop selling an extensive array of ingredients and tools needed for baking, targeted at the Malay community in the area who prefer baking their own pastries especially for Hari Raya Puasa. His shop remains where it is at #01-47 to #01-48, and has retained its appearance ever since 1983.
The external façade of Ailin's Bakery House, displaying the extensive array of baking essentials. Baking enthusiasts will definitely find what they are looking for here.
On 30 January 2002, leading up to Chinese New Year, burglars broke into the shop, stealing more than $10 000 worth of weekend earnings and 16 pineapple tart moulds. They smashed the glass-door entrance to enter. This incident was part of a series of Chinese New Year thefts that year.
Despite the loss, Ailin’s Bakery House succeeded in overturning the tide, continuing its business till today. In 2007 and 2012,The Straits Times published a series of pastry recipes that required ingredients and materials from the shop due to their esteemed quality, which is maintained by the staff’s dedication and knowledge of their trade.
Shelves of colourful baking tools and decorations align the walls.
Now, Ailin Bakery House maintains its circle of regular customers by allowing telephone orders, as well as entertaining new walk-in customers from time to time. However, Mr Loh has expressed no future plans after the demolition of Tanjong Katong Complex, and it seems that the Malay community as well as baking enthusiasts will soon be faced with the loss of a valuable asset. We are in danger of losing one of the most professional, dedicated and experienced bakery essentials shop islandwide, and shops that sell such comprehensive baking materials are regrettably less and less commonly found these days.
Rows of visually vibrant fruit gels. There is always something that catches your attention.
The owner Mr Francis Toh (left), his younger brother Mr Jimmy Toh (middle) and his daughter Ms Clara Toh (right)
A photo of Ms Clara Toh and her mother, taken in front of the store in 1998.
Photo development and printing is a sunset industry. Back in 1987 when Francis first opened his shop, cameras could only capture moments using a negative film. Thus, people had to develop their photos in order to see what they had captured. Film photos were developed and printed using a Photo MiniLab - with one machine being a film processor and the other being a chemical photo printer. As a result, business was always good, and on very busy days, he ended work at 2am, instead of the official closing hours of 10.30pm!
Moving on to the year 2000, when the digital camera was born, Francis had to upgrade his printing machines to cater to the incoming flow of digitally taken images. However, people had the choice of viewing their photos on electronic platforms such as the camera itself or the computer. As a result, business dwindled and dropped by 30-40%. It was only about 5 years into the digital camera era that Francis’ business stabilised once again.
Mr Toh uses his daughter's (Ms Clara Toh) image as the stock photo at the shop.
The introduction of the smartphone almost a decade later in 2007-2008, was yet another painful blow to the business. Smartphones have an increasingly large amount of data storage, and could take clear photos too. With that, the usage of film and digital cameras dropped. Coupled with the fact that many smartphone users choose not to print out all their photos as they could view them via electronic platforms, business dropped by a shocking 60% (in comparison to the year 1987). Now, only less than 5% of photos printed are film developed photos.
To make the best out of his business, Francis continues to source out for products and services he can sell to customers, even offering simple ones such photocopying and phone charging services. The shop sees better days on Sundays, where many domestic workers patronise the mall on their off-day. Given that the mall is situated within the Geylang Serai area, Hari Raya Puasa is a blessing as well as many Malay customers flock over to the shop during the festive season.