The provision shop at Dakota Crescent is manned by an old couple, toiling from dawn to dusk and serving the quiet estate well for more than 50 years.
Tucked in the corner of block 12, the provision shop’s antique signboard catches the eye easily. The rusty spring-loaded metal gates are also remnants of the past.
A variety of biscuits are sold in separate metal containers, while drinks, syrups, eggs, instant noodles, onions and potatoes are displayed in their respective shelves and baskets. Other goods are packed neatly in the old shop with limited space. To advance with time, the provision shop also sells ice-cream in a chiller nowadays.
Like the mama shops, old traditional provision shops face the challenge from minimarts and convenience stores. The number has dropped from 1,200 in the seventies to less than 200 islandwide now. Many younger generations have little desire to continue this struggling business which their forefathers had guarded religiously in the past decades.
In September 2011, National Heritage Board (NHB) included provision shops as part of the Singapore Memory Project, in an effort to record down this history that plays an important role in our local culture.
The picture above shows a typical provision shop in the eighties, displaying a large variety of dried food at the front of its shop. The shopowner would use a large milo can attached to the ceiling to deposit his daily income.
The Singapore Provision Shop Friendly Association (新加坡杂货店联谊会) is part of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI), representing the interest of the provision shops in Singapore.
The estate of Dakota Crescent, located off Old Airport Road, is a peaceful neighbourhood consists of 14 white blocks of flats of not more than 10 storeys tall.
Dakota was more lively when the nearby Kallang Airport was in operation from 1937 to 1955. The name itself was named after American transport aircraft Dakota DC-3, which was massively produced during the World War II and a common plane to land at Kallang Airport. Another variation of the origin of the name is to commemorate the air disaster on 29 Jun 1946, when one of the Royal Air Force’s Dakota aircraft crashed at the Kallang Airport in a thunderstorm. All passengers on board were perished.
Published: 08 September 2011
Updated: 25 October 2012
Indeed this is a forgotten place! I used to cycle around when I was young and it has been years since I been to this place though staying a few blocks away at Cassia Crescent. I believe it is the rare few remaining 2-storey housing in Singapore!
This shop is not ‘old’ enough, expecially the shelving and layout, to be crowned a ‘nostalgia provision shop’. there are many older looking shops with old wooden shelves in old shophouses scattered all over in the old streets in Singapore.
Hi, I was wondering what happened to the people in Block 48 No 204a Dakota crescent, i use to know Some of the Teo family and was wondering where they are.They were Robert Teo and Nancy Teo and their Father worked in a Electrical shop i think. They use to Know me as JAMES. Any information would be great. This would have been in 1966 to 1976.
Many thanks
Any readers who happen to know this.. please help
My family staying there at Block 46, 220 grd floor of the then 3-storey flat at Dakota Crescentard 1965 till 1970 during the cufew period. My family was known there as “Ten children” n remember Blk 48 gd floor ,there stay a family selling satay business and a fireman staying in Blk 46 grd floor corner.
This blog is amazing; thank you so much for your effort.
Actually there’re also a few places like this in places like Tanglin Halt and Tiong Bahru.
I believe this shop was use as a location shot for one of the children’s program in 2007 or 2008. Can’t recall the name of that program but think it was aired on Sundays around 10am or so. I wonder if such blocks may be selected for en-bloc in the future.
The shop is just opp my late grandma flat.. unfortunately my grandma died in a fire in her Dakota Cres flat. miss her,miss dakota,miss the shop..used to buy ciggies there every year on my Hari Raya visit to My Grandma place..
I remember there was a traffic circular near Kallang area where there were big neon lights billboards. Any idea what is the exact location?
Think the circus was at the exit of Nicoll Highway to Mountbatten Road and Guillemard Road. The neon billboard showed Knife Brand cooking oil, Labour Brand (a man wielding a hammer) bar soap, etc. .
U r right. the junction of Mountbatten Rd / Old Airport Rd / Kallang Park entrance was formerly a circle. The lighted neon signs are at the walls of Blk 2 & Blk 4. The displays were the watches brand “BULOVA & Accutron”. It was removed around mid-60s I think.
The circus was known as Guillemard Circus and located at the junction of Mountbatten Road, Nicoll Highway and Guillemard Road, not Old Airport Road….
http://pictures.nl.sg/SearchByTag.aspx?tag=Guillemard%20Circus
There are very few things on the internet that can bring so much nostalgia. Especially local websites. This is one of the few. Well done!
Ex president S R Nathan talks about our lack of established identity as a nation. I think he has not yet seen your blog. I reckon this is a great starting point.
I just chanced upon this blog today and I am amazed! I actually took a few photos of this unique shop, and I believe there’s actually a row of flats on the second floor. It’s a very simple and rustic place. Even the pavement and walkway along the canal looks so retro too! Shall bookmark this site and hopefully share some other amazing places with you too.
does anyone if this place still around? especially the provision shop. is it still in operation?
email me vincent.egh@gmail.com many thanks
Still around. Been there few months back.
Yep, it should be still around, although I haven’t gone back for a couple of months…
I still remember the kind old couple who chatted with me about their 50-plus-years old provision shop and allowed me to take some photos
I grew up in Block 2 dakota Close.Grandparents are still staying there:)
They were the first few families that move in during the 50s.
This Tian Kee provision store sure brings back memories. During my Kindergarden days. My Kindergarden is at the other end, along Dakota Crescent. The place is now demolished. Now, Dakota ressidences (condo) is now sittting on the Kindergarden site. The 2 storey building where the Kindergarden is share the same design as this provision shop.
Every morning My Aunt will fetch me to school, and this provision shop is the standard checkpoint. My Aunt will stop by and buy me sweets, titbits or soft drinks (the era of glass bottles and packets of ice.)
And of course not to mention the daughter of the provision shop. She was my kindergarden classmate.
Haven’t seen her and her family for a very long time. From my memories, they used to say at the 4 story flats along Dakota Crescent(1979). In 1990s, Did saw their family visited a clinic in Tampines 800+ Clinic.
That’s about it. Still go back to grandparents’ place for family tree celebration twice a year.
I do hope the place will stay as it is for the next decade.
Hello Wayne,
I used to stay in Block 2 as a child on the 5/F till the 80s…do I happen to know you? My parents were also one of the earliest residents there. I have this childhood family friend, Ho Wee Soon and he stayed on the 4/F. His family eventually moved to Eunos. Chan.sue8@gmail.com , sue chan
I stay on the 6th Floor. My Grandfather was the electrical repair man of the area. people will usually bring their electronic and electrical stuff for my Grandfather to repair. And also the standard practise. My Neighbours will come over and play majong (our place was one of the standard location). This other neighbour majong place is 4th and 5th floor also.
There’s another Ho family I know of was on the 5th floor corner. Facing the tanjong rhu side. Think they move out already.
oh yes…nostalgia at dakota crescent. the rest of the vicinity around it has been erased in the name of progress – jalan satu/dua cassia crescent etc as well as nearby kallang park. i stayed in old airport road from the late 60s to the late 80s and i used to play and cycle around dakota crescent as well as visit friends/relatives – the good old days.
but with the mrt station there, i think it is a matter of time again…haiz – when places like these are available only on post cards or a commemorative plaque…pity right?
I believe that the traffic roundabout was called Guillemard Circus where Guillemard road met the Nicoll Highway and Mountbatten road. I don”t think that there was a Mountbatten Circus because that was where the traffic lights were to stop traffic when planes were landing. Kallang was originally a circular grass airfield which allowed planes to always land and take off into the wind. The seaplanes landed on Kallang Basin. After the war the runway was made/extended so the traffic lights were a compromise to allow traffic to the east coast and also the planes
Dakota Crescent the place that i liked most especially at block 18 over looking the geylang river…gee i missed that place so much…
Thank you for the memory, I was born and brought up in Dakota Crescent, block 28. I am in my 50s now. I remember the shop very well, we used to buy our groceries from this shop. We could buy on credit with transactions recorded on a small 555 book. My dad would then settle the bills at the end of the month. I miss the place very much, I do return to the place with my children sometimes and show them what my childhood place was like.
Here’s a good article of an old provision shop at Joo Chiat which is closing for good at the end of September 2012….
http://joochiattoday.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/old-provision-shop/
Yesterday no more… one of the provision shops at Pulau Tekong (c. 1979) before the island was converted into a military base
If not wrong the structure still exist as fibua village to train recruits.
Am sure my in laws family remember this place. Its been their childhood stay thre. My mom in laws stay at Cassia Crescent too.
Both Hakozaki and Old Resident of DC are right. There are actually 2 traffic circus. Guillemard/Nicoll Highway and Old Airport Rd/Mountbatten Rd. The Knife Brand etc.. are at Guillemard. These are big metal billboard type. The ones at Old Airport Rd are mounted on the DC flat’s wall. They uses neon lights. Bulova, Titoni and KDK are some of the brands featured at various period of time. The flats around the area were completed in around 1959. My family was amongst the first residents.
Note also at the time these houses were built by SIT, the houses on one side of Old Airport Road all have odd block numbers (houses along Jln Satu, Dua, Tiga, etc..) while the houses on the opposite side of road have even block numbers (houses along Dakota Crescent side). Most of the odd number blocks have been demolished, leaving only some shop houses around the market and the 10 storey blocks. The even number blocks are more lucky, most of them are still around.
LEE, I knew a family who lived in Block 48 No204A called TEO can only remember Brother and sisters names Robert and Nancy but there were quite a few more. The Father worked in a Electical shop that sold radios etc. I think that Block has been demolished but would like some confirmation and if so where they were rehoused too. Many Thanks
We staying at Blk 46. Remebering playing outside when the “Red Car” Police Task Force came and shout at us thro th loud haier that its curfew time n we should be indoor. It was the racial riot period.. Remeber too that during hot night, we just sleep in the open outside with those canva foldable bed.
Sorry David James, I don’t know them. I stayed at Jln Lima, opposite Dakota Crescent.
Hi lee, Ok many thanks anyhow
Yes. I remember all these… I live here in the 1950s – those 3-storey Singapore Improvement Trust Flats facing the Geylang River. The site is occupied by Waterbank at Dakota condominium (now under construction).
Strange enough, or, to be honest, it is all planned – I moved back to live here after some fifty years. Everything is so familiar. I know exactly how to move around, the best paths to run, the best foods around, etc. I can tell you, it is fun!
Tian Kee (天记), of course I remember. Now the shop has become a prominent icon of this area. We used to be one of their customers. Tian Kee worker would come in a bicycle to “take order” and record it in a tiny note book. They gave credit of our purchases for one month. At the month end, the worker would come to collect payment based on his record. We all trusted each other and there is hardly any dispute. Before CNY, they would give a wooden case of Green Spot bottled drinks as a goodwill gesture for our whole year’s support.
The pillar under the staircase with a squared platform is also very special. We kids liked to climb up and sit there.
Thanks for sharing!
The 3-storey flats were demolished n we were relocated to Circuit Road. During Chinese New Year, we used to fired “rocket” at the 12-storey (I think its 12 or 10 storey) opposite from blk 46 which facing Old Airport road n with Dakota Crescent as side road. Hawkers in trisha (the front type) which go round the pavement around these 3-strey flat to hawk their food.
Hi, I wonder if you know whether Sungei Road was ever known for its row of bird shops? I guess it must be during the early 1960s? I remember my dad used to take me there to look at the birds and occasionally to buy a budgie or two. I am not sure whether it was the famous Sungei Road, but I vaguely remember the road being next to a canal and it was full of bird sounds because of the many bird shops there. My dad called it “Bird Street” but I think this could be just a name he coined himself. Love your blog, btw!
Grew up just a couple of blocks away. Went back a year ago to show my gf this exact shop. Never thought anyone else would find this place interesting enought to chronicle, but it has a special place in my memories. Thanks for this!