The Lims often had extra help too.
Scrawled within eyeline of the shop’s cashier counter are prices of various items. This was to help remind not just the owners – but also neighbours chipping in to man the store.
“(If) they had nothing to do, during the day they would sit and chit-chat with us,” Ms Esther Lim added. “Everybody knows us.”
One fifth-floor neighbour who later moved to Punggol used to return almost every day to visit them.
“We wanted to pay her transport for coming down but she refused … she buys things from the shop, we refuse to charge her, but she still pays,” said Ms Esther Lim. “She just wanted to talk and help out.”
The Lim sisters can’t remember exactly when they were first informed of the SERS news, only that it was prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the government’s efforts to renew older housing estates, the scheme offers residents new homes nearby while the old sites are redeveloped.
Residents at the three MacPherson Lane blocks were offered replacement units at Circuit Road. Owners of commercial properties, such as the Lims, were given some compensation and a new commercial unit, also at Circuit Road.
The decision was eventually made to rent out the new commercial unit, and call time on the family business.
