The Mama Shop (1)
Posted by vickoo under Lifestyle
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Victor Koo finds a mama shop that is still operating in modern-day Singapore. He challenges you to identify where it is located.
I have blogged about the mama shop before.
When I visited the Singapore Philatelic Museum last year, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mock-up of a mama shop:
The explanatory notes accompanying the exhibit was as follows:
Indian Mama Shop - A sundry shop or general provision stall traditionally operated by Indians, especially the Tamil ethnic group. Colloquailly refers to as “Mama Shop or Stall”, the word “Mama” means “uncle” in Tamil.
Such stalls were commonly found in Little India, the enclave of the Indian community in Singapore. Operating in very small and tight space, it is amazing that these stalls could sell a wide range of products - cigarettes, sweets and tidbits, fruits, toiletries, drinks, films, batteries, medicines, and lottery tickets. These stalls were indeed the convenient stall of early days.
With barely a metre depth of shop space, the stalls were usually stashed away at street corners along the five-foot-ways or along side alleys. It is however hard to miss the stalls because the display of colourful magazines and newspaper, strung across the stall with strings and cloth pegs, are very eye-catching. This display method has also become the trademark of the mama shops.
Urban redevelopment, introduction of modern convenient stalls and escalating rental fee are some of the causes that lead to the vanishing of mama shops in Little India. Today, very few mama shops are still in operation.
To pre-empt my philatelist friend Wee Kiat who never fails to point out relevant stamps, there was even a Singapore stamp issued in 2006 which featured the mama shop:
It was one of ten stamps issued in the “vanishing trade” series.
Today, there are probably less than 10 mama shops still running their trade in Singapore. I managed to hunt one down yesterday with my camera:
Can you guess where this mama shop is located?
Tags: Mama Shop, Singapore Philatelic Museum
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(11) Comments
Posted by: s
Posted on: June 6th, 2008
arab street!
Posted by: Tym
Posted on: June 6th, 2008
s beat me to it. I was gonna guess the one at the junction of Kandahar Street and North Bridge Road.
Posted by: Victor Koo
Posted on: June 6th, 2008
S and Tym - Thank you for your guesses but they are incorrect. I think it's difficult to come up with the right answer because most mama shops look very similar to each other. From your comments, I also realise that there may be much more than 10 mama shops still in operation. The answer will be revealed in one week's time. Meanwhile, you are welcome to continue guessing. :)
Posted by: Lvi
Posted on: June 9th, 2008
Telok Kurau? Opposite East Shore Hospital's my guess.
Posted by: Victor Koo
Posted on: June 12th, 2008
Dear readers, thank you for guessing. Nobody got the correct answer to the quiz question. The mama shop is located in Kampong Kapor Road, along the stretch between Desker Road and Rowell Road. Watch out for the 2nd post on the mama shop which will be published here tomorrow.
Posted by: Victor Koo
Posted on: August 11th, 2008
Yes, it's in Singapore. And for a long time already. How to get here? Join a tour group or grab a plane ticket and come free-and-easy. I think a 3-day tour is long enough for you to cover the whole island. ;)
Posted by: Victor Koo
Posted on: August 12th, 2008
No it is not. If you can read the date-stamp on the photo, it was taken in end May 2008.
Posted by: shane
Posted on: March 27th, 2011
is there any possibility u revealing where this is situated? haha cos i really wna know!! thank u... and i cant guess... havnt been around much anyways
Posted by: sprazzeus
Posted on: March 28th, 2011
@Shane : dude he already said where it is. and there are zillions of these shops around anyway. why do i have the feeling that you're doing a project for school...
Posted by: shane
Posted on: April 4th, 2011
yes i am man... I am kinda new here plus U'd say there are many but to go look for an authentic one was quite hectic.. with the modern culture everything is modernized so the old stuff are kinda fading... ye i still havnt got it but i'll read this once more n see where exactly is this place. thanx
Posted by: shane
Posted on: April 4th, 2011
Kampong Kapor Road! got it thank you again
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