The One and Only Sundry Shop – a central feature of Malaysian life serving as shopping outlet, local market, and community center all rolled into one. For most of the 20th and even now in the 21st century, life in rural Malaysia would be unimaginable without the ubiquitous Sundry Shop or chap hoi tiam in Hokkien. Long before the arrival of the supermarket or the hypermarket, there was the Sundry Shop. In the 1930’s through the 50’s my grandfather ran a sundry shop. The first one was in ...
