2) A Family of Tailors (1931 - 1997)


 "Kong On Tailor" was originally owned by another family, the original name was KongKong Tailor.  The name was changed by SungWai after he bought it over.

Within a few years, the other brothers and sisters picked up the tailoring skills from the eldest brother FunHor. Before long, 4 more shops were set up by the younger brothers and 1 by the sister (owned by the husband) : 


 Shop Name Years of operation Owner comments
1 Kong On Tailor （公安）
68 Pagoda St  		1931-1986 SungWai / FunKee building still standing 2012
2 Modern Tailor （美丽）
497 North Bridge Road		 1940-1978 FunHor Demolished in 1980s
3 Mun Cheong （民昌）
329 Geylang Road		 1950-1986 FunMee building still standing 2012
4 Cheong Fatt （昌发）
387 North Bridge Road		 1941-1972 FunSwee Demolished in late 1970s
5 Yee Cheong  (怡昌)
208 Tanjong Pagar Rd		 1954-1975 PengYee (aka Fun Kow) Demolished in late 1970s
6 Evergay (永乐)
186 Geylang Road 		 1962-1997 Wong Ming Keong Husband of SweeSimbuilding still standing 2012

  Kong On Tailor  no 68 Pagoda Street   
( click here if you want to know the names of people in photo: word docs 650KB)
After the eviction by the government in the 70s to redevelop Chinatown,  non in the family members continued with the trade, mostly because there were too much competition from ready-made shirts and pants being sold in departmental store, they were cheaper and feels very much the same as tailor-made ones. Before the big malls, we had People’s park complex.

The grand-children of ChongHui (Cantonese=SungWai) received most of their educations in English and each have their own professions and careers in other fields . Not a single grand-children carried on the family business of tailoring. 
Yee Cheong Tailor  no. 208 Tanjong Pagar Rd
click on photo to enlarge





News article in late 70s said more than 23 tailor shops
were found along  Pagoda Street.
                                                                               



















Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)