Mr Patrick Phoa has been obsessed with antiques since the 1970s - and his shop has since captured the attention of many visitors.
By: Tay Zenneth, Mohamed Nur Syafaat, and Loke Jon Tow
A photo of The Heritage Shop taken from across the street. The shop is one of many that can be found on Jalan Sultan Road.
(Photo: Loke Jon Tow)
Did you know that Jalan Sultan Road is home to one of the best-kept secrets in Singapore’s heritage? As its name suggests, The Heritage Shop specialises in selling vintage items and antiques. However, its deceivingly dingy facade hides one of the most extensive and diverse collections of historical items in Singapore.
Stepping into the shop instantly transports one into a world, quite literally, chocked full of history and nostalgia. Vintage suitcases and boxes are stacked chest-high up front, with antiques ranging from old cameras to original colonial-era photographs crammed into every nook and cranny, leaving only a narrow walkway for only the most adventurous visitors to venture through.
Amidst the myriad of antique items, the store’s owner, Mr Patrick Phoa, can be seen seated at a tiny wooden desk in the shop’s centre, greeting anyone who walks through the door with a cheery smile.
‘I would not expect to be collecting for so many years’
Despite its dingy exterior, The Heritage Shop is home to one of the biggest antiques collections in Singapore.
(Photo: Loke Jon Tow)
Mr Phoa has been running The Heritage Shop since opening the shop on Jalan Sultan Road in the 1990s. However, the genesis behind Mr. Phoa’s love of collecting started when he was a young boy growing up in the 1960s.
“I started collecting stamps because it was cheap and easy to access,” Mr Phoa recounts. He fondly remembers when he would rummage through the bins of office units in town, looking for letters that had been disposed of to take their leftover stamps.
“At that time, I would not expect to be collecting (antiques) for so many years,” he reminisced.
Through these stamps, he started to gain an appreciation for history and geography, which eventually led him to start looking for other artefacts to collect.
‘Maybe, I will buy things from you one day’
Vintage advertisements, memorabilia and boxes on display at the entrance of The Heritage Shop.
(Photo: Loke Jon Tow)
Mr Phoa’s passion for collecting never waned, even as he entered the workforce as a young adult. Often, he found it difficult to concentrate on daily tasks as he was too fixated on finding items to add to his collection.
“Even during working hours, I always had the itch to leave my office to hunt for antiques, (and) I would even take leave sometimes,” he said with a smile. He also reflected on how he used to collect and buy anything old, even if it was only 10 to 20 years of age due to a lack of experience of what items were truly valuable.
Soon, he had amassed a huge collection, most of which were acquired through garage sales, which Mr Phoa highlights as the primary way people bought and sold antiques.
“There was no Carousell or eBay back then, (so) we relied on selling through garage sales advertised in the newspapers,” he explained. Eventually, he started to organise his own garage sales, which allowed him to learn the trade of selling antiques.
Mr Phoa’s garage sales quickly gained traction and he was soon turning a profit. This prompted him to contemplate the viability of pursuing his own antique business, though initially deterred by the risks involved.
“My boss actually gave me his blessing,” Mr Phoa remembers distinctly. “He said, ‘Patrick, you should do it. Maybe, I will buy things from you one day.’”
Motivated by the words of his employer, Mr Phoa gathered his possessions and set up his first antique store at Old Airport Road. During the shop’s earliest days, Mr Phoa could only man the store on the weekends as he needed to work, having his brother take over from Mondays to Fridays.
“My brother did not have a lot of experience with selling. So from Mondays to Fridays, sales weren’t very good. Sales only got better when I was there. I think (this is) because people value the knowledge and appreciation for the history behind the items when buying them,” he explained.
Soon enough though, he was eventually given the opportunity to start selling full-time after the company he was working at closed down.
Settling down in Jalan Sultan
The interior of The Heritage Shop. Mr Phoa’s first shop was only a quarter of this space, making it very difficult to store items.
(Photo: Loke Jon Tow)
Mr Phoa’s first shop was a space he described as ‘tiny’. “I started with a small shop, about 100 square feet of space, which was a struggle as I had accumulated many things from my garage sales to sell,” Mr Phoa recounts.
After operating the store for a short period, he relocated to a few other locations before settling down along Jalan Sultan Road in the mid-1990s, where the shop still stands today.
Over the past 30 years of operating The Heritage Shop, Mr Phoa has served a wide variety of patrons to his shop, including many tourists flying in from around the world. During our interview, he proudly shared that his most recent customers were a businessman from Qatar and an officer from the United States Navy.
These days, he loves striking up conversations with anyone who shows interest in his antiques, even if they are just browsing the shelves. “I believe we should give everyone a chance to come in to look around my shop, even if they do not buy anything,” he says, “any normal visitor may give me my biggest sale.”
Mr Phoa now mainly curates items originating from the early to mid-20th century, focusing on collecting items unique to the Malayan Peninsula (the colonial name for Singapore and Malaysia) as tourists are interested in such items.
“I tried to develop an eye for what (items) people are interested in over the years, this knowledge also helps me spend my money wisely when finding items (to sell),” he explained.
Gaining recognition
Mr Phoa is also a minor celebrity within the area, with his massive collection of antiques receiving much attention from various local and international media outlets. Scrolling through his phone reveals photos of him posing with local actors and TV crews, including a group photo with a Ukrainian TV crew covering heritage in Singapore.
A commemorative photo when popular actors, Gurmit Singh & Bryan Wong, visited The Heritage Shop.
(Photo Credit: The Heritage Shop Facebook)
He has also supplied artefacts to various organisations such as the National Museum of Singapore and Toastbox as displays. At the same time, his shop has also been featured in several inflight magazines for airlines, such as AirAsia and Qatar Airways.
Additionally, Mr Phoa remembers how being featured in Qatar Airways magazines could have gotten the attention of the Sultan of Qatar a few years ago.
He recounted how the Sultan and his son visited in the late afternoon looking for a Quran from the 13th century, but the oldest one that Mr Phoa had seen was one from the 1700s. Thus, the pair did not buy anything from his shop, as Mr Phoa humbly mentioned there was nothing else that was of value to the Sultan. However, he said: “The fact that he cared to enter my shop and spend 10 minutes, I think it was a very big honour because my shop may have been the only shop he may have entered in Singapore.”
Playing a role in Jack Neo’s Homerun
While The Heritage Shop has had its fair share of big-name companies and individuals pass through its doors, the most interesting yet understated role the shop has played was when it supplied research material for the hit 2003 period film, Homerun.
Film still from Jack Neo’s hit 2003 period film, Homerun.
(Photo: Netflix)
Mr Phoa revealed that the film’s production team had regarded his shop as a godsend as they had spent the previous three weeks in Malaysia looking for props, with no success. Fortunately, several Malaysians who knew about The Heritage Shop recommended the shop to the producers, who later visited the shop along with the film’s director, Jack Neo.
As he proudly displays a picture he took with Mr Neo, Mr Phoa reveals that one of the most significant research materials behind the movie was a photo album about a school’s sports day from 1958. “Jack Neo asked me about what children wore during sports days in the ‘60s. I said, ‘I don’t know, but I've got an album about sports day that I can show you.’” he said.
Images from the photo album that gave Jack Neo the inspiration for the movie, Homerun.
(Photo Credit: The Heritage Shop Facebook)
Though Mr Phoa did not allow Mr Neo to borrow the album, he did allow him to take pictures for reference. One of the pictures showed children running barefoot during sports day - which later became the inspiration for a particular scene in the movie involving the main character.
Reflecting on the last 30 years
Being in the business for more than 30 years, Mr Phoa says one of his biggest regrets was not taking the leap of faith and starting the business. He reasons that “there were more things to buy that were cheaper and in better condition.”
When asked about the stamps he used to collect, he says he estimates his collection at half a million pieces, even though he doesn’t deal with them anymore, most of which are still with him at home. “I don’t have time to deal with so many stamps. I have a lot to sell, and it requires about half to one-third of this shop,” he says.
He says he has learned many things compared to when he first started. For starters, many of his more serious collections are at home, and one may also be surprised that he does not get sentimental about the products he has sold.
He said: “I don’t miss all the things I sell, only the good things. For those, I have learned to tackle it since I first started at Old Airport Road.” Instead, he takes pictures as a memory of the antiques in his collection.
He still considers antiques his passion despite it having evolved into his business, commenting that “if you don’t have a passion, you cannot do (this business).” Foreseeing there will not be an end to collecting antiques as a hobby, he intends to continue selling antiques for as long as he is able to.
As a piece of advice for those who want to start collecting antiques, he says: “It depends on how much you want to spend. Collect what is affordable for you and those that are local - it allows you to relate to and know more about its history.”
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