File:Songhe Rice Sack (2).jpg

What was once a sundry shop, the Thin Huat provision shop was started by Ang Kah Hee’s father in 1964 at Tanglin Halt Neighbourhood Centre to provide residents with easy access to daily supplies. With frequent visits, friendships developed; regulars sometimes purchased goods on credit and settled their payments monthly after receiving their pay.

This humble provision shop has a long history that finds its roots in the 1920s. Ang Kah Hee’s grandfather owned a provision shop at Boh Beh Kang, the village which preceded Queenstown. Such sundry shops were referred to as “chap hui diam” in Hokkien, which literally translates to “shops selling a mixture of goods”. Alongside his brother, Ang Kah Tiong (b. 1948), Kah Hee had kept traditions alive by selling a wide assortment of goods, ranging from spices to canned food, to cater to the needs of their customers.

Unfortunately, these modest beginnings met its end in 2018, as a result of the growing traction of supermarkets in the 1980s. The decline of many provision shops during that period was a consequence of stiff competition from burgeoning supermarkets, thus eventually leading to Thin Huat’s closure in 2018.

After the provision shop’s closure, the burlap rice sack was donated to My Community in April 2018. This rice sack was accessioned into My Community’s collection on 13th March, 2019 and is still in the collection.