[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”The Supermarket Dream” subhead=”How My Grandfather\u2019s Dream became a Hong Kong Reality” background_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” title_level=”h6″ title_font=”Alegreya|700||on|||||” title_text_align=”center” title_text_color=”#FFFFFF” title_font_size=”51px” title_letter_spacing=”5px” content_text_color=”#000000″ subhead_font=”Akshar||||||||” subhead_text_align=”center” subhead_text_color=”#FFFFFF” subhead_font_size=”28px” background_enable_color=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/jmsc6110a.com\/capstone2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2-1.jpg” parallax=”on” custom_padding=”250px||250px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-4px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”50%” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Actor||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”27px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Picking up groceries at the supermarket has become second nature to many people, but how did this phenomena start in Hong Kong?<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Actor||||||||” text_text_color=”#0C71C3″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Supermarket \/\u02c8su\u02d0.p\u025a\u02ccm\u0251\u02d0r.k\u026at\/\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n a large shop which sells most types of food and other goods needed in the home<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Actor||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The bell rings when you walk into the store. The storekeeper greets you with a smile in his white and blue apron. You order your usual groceries: a pound of rice, three heads of broccoli, and a hundred grams of chicken. He turns around and begins fetching your order from the stacked shelves behind him. He then carefully measures each portion and wraps it with a long piece of twine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That is what grocery shopping looked like in the late 1800s to early 1900s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This personalised shopping experience was not only labour-intensive, but also very expensive given the inefficient time it took to serve each customer. As a result, Clarence Saunders decided to open the first ever self-service supermarket in Tennessee during 1916.<\/span><\/p>\n His innovation would change the way consumers grocery shop from here on out. Staff members would stack shelves with dry goods and products overnight, and then customers would serve themselves and bring the goods to the cashiers lined up in rows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Not only did this self-serve method reduce labour costs, but also increased production value given that the personalised practice was gone. Though many shopkeepers feared the risk of shoplifting, the economic gain still outweighed the cost.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Actor||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”]THE LEGACY OF YIP DICK HOI (1933 – 2023)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201c\u5e2b\u5085\uff0c\u524d\u9762\u6709\u843d! Driver, getting off at the next stop!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The familiar words that Yip Dick Hoi heard everyday as a Hong Kong minibus driver in the 1960s. The hours were long. The heat was unbearable. But he still got behind the wheel everyday to raise his family of four including his wife and two young sons. Yip didn\u2019t mind the monotonous drives, but the countless parking tickets from lunch stops and bathroom breaks drove him crazy. A day\u2019s work couldn\u2019t even cover the costs of the deadly white slip. He decided it was time for a change. A job that didn\u2019t require commuting and parking.<\/span><\/p>\n THE SUPERMARKET DREAM<\/strong><\/p>\n During the 1970s, the government began its plan to urbanise the Sai Wan (\u897f\u7063) area, now known as Chai Wan (\u67f4\u7063). It was going to be the new residential district, so the government allocated certain spaces for essential businesses to take place, such as a pharmacy, a library, and a supermarket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Spaces for these businesses have already been chosen, but it was up to the public to place bids for the right to run them. Seeing the opportunity arise, Yip, alongside his two minibus driver friends Lai Bing Him and Cheng Hin Cheung, decided to submit a $400,000 bid in hopes of running their own supermarket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n