Feng Shan’s Neighborhood Store

A thrilling piece of news was shared with me yesterday by Rebecca. She told me that her school student Sarah bought her hamster from this pet shop near Feng Shan Primary School! I took this news seriously & decided to check out the place with Rebecca today.

Rebecca told me that she dropped by to take a look earlier & found the store rather cram & small, I was a bit hesitant, but decided to have a look for myself. So I met her at 5pm at the bus stop nearby to investigate the place.

What first caught my notice was a rather old piece of printed out poster displaying various species of hamsters. From that, I gathered my first impression that this could possibly be quite an old shop. What’s more it is a neighborhood shop, so it would have to depend on customers’ loyalty to sustain its business.

The next thing that caught both our attention was this extremely agile guinea pig which leaped against the plastic box wall & immediately bounced back to its original position! It kind of startled us & we stood there to observe it awhile longer.

Going into the store, I didn’t find it narrow & cram, as Rebecca perceived it to be, maybe coz I’m a spatial-conscious person, so I can gauge approximate distance & spatial surroundings quite well. To me, what’s most critical is that the place is kept clean & maintained, as this is especially important element that would affect the animals in captivity.

I watched this small plastic box of hamsters for awhile, before turning round to smile at the pet shop owner. He is quite an elderly man, probably in his 50s, who greeted me back with a warm nod & smile.

I took the initiative to ask whether he knew what gender were these young hamsters & how much each cost. The owner told me that he would have to directly check a particular hamster, before he could conclude its gender. Casually, he came over to carry the plastic box over to his table, laid it down, picked up a hamster & flipped it over to inspect its genital area. The first one he picked up was a female & the second one was a male. Showing me how to determine its gender, I was impressed & glad to learn first-hand for myself.

Next, he told me the normal colored winter white hamster is priced at $12, whereas the grey & white winter whites are priced at $15 each. I proceeded to ask him more questions about whether I can put this young hamster with Rebecca’s hamster, how long a hamster could live, why there was no wheel in the plastic box, etc.

As some of the questions that I asked were to verify this man’s knowledge of hamsters, I concluded that he’s quite experienced in this species of animal. What’s more this neighborhood store seemed to have been around for quite a long time. Still, I found it cozy & relaxing, as there isn’t overcrowding of animals & excessive noises made by them.

I asked him about his shop opening & closing times, before saying that I would come down on Thursday to buy from him. Even though I did not buy from him today & perhaps from experience some customers do say that they will come back, but didn’t eventually, what surprised me was that he wasn’t even unhappy that I asked so many questions & didn’t buy in the end. Nor was he worried that I might be lying to him. Perhaps he found me a sincere & honest guy. In fact, I find him a friendly & honest man too.

In addition, he not only walked us to the door, he even continued sharing about hamsters & their various breeds, how not to breed them, which breed will bite, etc. All voluntarily! As Rebecca said, perhaps he wants hamsters to be cared for properly & not merely interested in selling them. He’s a man with heart!

I left the place with huge optimism & good impression. This owner is friendly, honest, knowledgeable & willing to share more than what has been asked. Despite the old shop layout, the place was kept clean & maintained well. He didn’t keep a lot of animals (just a few kinds of animals, unlike other pet shops that sell all kinds of pets), kept each type of animal in its own cage & maintained it very well. In fact, I’m impressed, as to me, this showed his focus in doing it well & making his animals happy!

Oh yes, I remember that when I saw his hamsters, they were just so lively, chirpy & happy! 3 were playing & the other 3 were snuggled comfortably under the soft bedding. It was such a comforting sight! After talking this out with Rebecca while walking around Bedok Interchange & having a short meal at KFC, I made up my mind to get my hamster from this neighborhood store this Thursday! =)