Documenting yesteryear’s retailers

WAY before e-commerce became the norm and before malls became ubiquitous in Singapore, the local neighbourhood shop was where most people bought what they needed.

Often located in shophouses or at the foot of HDB blocks, they were often family-run stores that have since become a dying breed. We may not think much of them today, but for American travel and documentary photographer, Steve Golden, they are the subject of his book, Heritage Shops of Singapore. 

“Talisman Publishing and I had been discussing a heritage project for quite a while, but we couldn’t find the right angle. We wanted something that celebrated heritage as a part of today’s modern life, and not something overly nostalgic,” says Golden, who was originally from a small town in Maine. He arrived in Singapore 26 years ago as an educational publisher, but is now a director at the Lasalle College of the Arts.