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A Perak Emporium Diary
This little complimentary diary (10.5cmx7.5cm) from days gone past represents the period when Ipoh was prosperouus from tin mining and the Perak Emporium was the first and only major shopping centre from when it opened in the 1960s until it closed in the late 1980s. However, one should not forget that Ipoh also had a few smaller supermarkets like Beauty, Angel, Crescendo, Dayi & Kwong Fatt which were all operating to a similar scale. These were also forced to close their doors once Super Kinta became established.
The Emporium was housed at one end of the stylish Art Deco building designed by architect B M Iversen in 1931 and known as the Lam Looking Building after its owner Towkay Lam Look Ing. As well as the Emporium there were retail shops at street level, with smaller lots fronting an oval courtyard.
The Emporium story started out with the Lim brothers: Lim Tow Seng and Lim Tow Yong. Tow Seng founded his own business in Singapore (around mid to late 1930s); his brother joined the company later. The business focused on importing (from China), manufacturing and selling low-cost garments. In the mid 1960s, they created Emporium Holdings. This lead to a chain of 'one-stop shopping' departmental stores. The first of its kind was called Oriental Emporium, at Raffles Place (Singapore). Within two years, they managed to open stores in Penang as well as restaurants too.
Their store in Ipoh opened in 1972 (three years later in Kampar as well). The Emporium in Ipoh occupied the ground and first floor of the Lam Looking Building. A short time later the second floor was also utilised. Emporium Holdings spent about a quarter of a million dollars in renovations prior to moving in. Sadly, twelve years later their luck began to run out.
In the mid 1980s, a severe recession caused a struggling Emporium Holdings to seek high and low for new investors. Their Singapore business was rescued by Bill Ch'ng (a millionaire architect). Their Malaysian operations were liquidated in 1987 by Peat Marwick, at the price of $12 million (the actual value was more than ten times). Amalgamated Steel Mills, a division of the Cheng family's Lion Group, bought the business. This same group also became proprietors of Parade, Parkson Grand, Parkson Ria, Xtra and Payless.
Lim Tow Seng died in 1991. His brother Tow Yong died in 2012, after overcoming bankruptcy by starting over in Sabah and Brunei. He managed to make a fortune for himself and his family before his passing.
We thank Ipoh Remembered for the information about the Emporium.
To read more about the construction and subsequent uses of the Lam Looking Building, click here.
To know more about Towkay Lam Look Ing, click here.
To know more about B M Iversen, the Danish architect, click here.
To read about a pair of souvenir drinking glasses from Beauty Supermarket, click here.