After being featured in a local history exhibition, a 127-year-old corner store in New Taipei City has reported a business revival as a cultural tourism attraction.
Founded in 1888 during the Japanese colonial period, the Centennial Wang-hsin Chi (百年王信記) store is a gamadiam (柑仔店) — the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) word for an old-fashioned corner store — which has operated continuously since its founding to the present day.
Last year, Wang-hsin Chi’s fifth-generation shop owner, Wang Ming-li (王銘里), lent some old photographs that had decorated the store’s interior to the Yonghe District (永和) Office, believing them to be an invaluable record of ordinary people’s lives.
Photo: Weng Lu-huang, Taipei Times
The photographs, some of which were taken 50 years ago, show early morning patrons enjoying breakfast served by the Wangs, as was the custom at the time. They were featured in a Yonghe District exhibition between April and June last year.
“The store was created when Taiwan was economically backward and its people impoverished,” Wang said. “Alcohol, tobacco and rice were state monopolies and their sale required licenses, which was the crucial function of a gamadiam.”
He said that after World War II, life continued to be difficult for ordinary people.
Even during the initial period of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) rule, many patrons bought necessities on credit, but the Wang family was both generous and well-off, and did not discourage their patrons’ credit-buying habits.
Wang said that in his youth, patrons would bring their own jars to measure the items they purchased, including oils and grains.
The gamadiam took its name from the Wang family surname and the Chinese word hsin (信), meaning honesty and good faith, Wang said, adding that the store’s catchphrase was: “The store run by the Wangs — honest and quick to remember.”
He said that the age of the gamadiam came to a close just as he took over the family store.
In the 1980s, 24-hour convenience stores began to compete with traditional corner stores and gradually priced them out of the market, Wang said.
He said that he tried to change his inventory to cater to modern tastes and spent money renovating Wang-hsin Chi to have a well-lit, modern look, but such measures did little to restore business.
Wang said he would be the last family member to own the store, because his children are not interested in taking over the business.
Nevertheless, Wang said he would preserve the corner store as long as he is able to work, because Wang-hsing Chi performs a great service to the neighborhood.
“I work the store one day at a time,” he said.
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