You’d never know when a chat with a kind-hearted stranger would help turn things around. For a stall holder struggling to sell cute-looking pouches in Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ), his good fortune came in the form of a positive review on TikTok.
Last Sunday (Dec 11), local influencer Genevievesjy shared a 30-second clip of her buying a drawstring bag from his stall and it’s safe to say that there was no buyer’s remorse at all.
She sounded really chuffed with her purchase as she showed off her haul.
The video garnered over 92,000 views at the time of writing.
What caught her attention was the wide variety of iron-on patches, which go for $2 a piece or $5 for three.
“There are so many patches to choose from and the Sanrio ones are really cute,” she said.
Popular Sanrio characters include Hello Kitty and Pochacco.
She picked a My Melody patch ($2) and had it ironed on a light pink drawstring bag ($6).
While making her purchase, she learnt something rather alarming — he was barely turning a profit.
“The cart is run by this elderly man and he told me that some days he only makes a few cents,” she said as she urged others to try and support the man if they could.
In the comments section, TikTok users tagged their friends and began planning when they should head over to the mall and patronise his stall.
The rally for support seems to have worked as sales have picked up since her TikTok video.
Genevieve said that her friend, who works at a nearby cart, told her that the elderly man has been “having non-stop business all day”.
His pushcart is located near Starbucks at level one in PLQ Mall, and he mentioned to her that it’ll be there till Dec 25.
In August, an elderly artist selling her crocheted items near Toa Payoh MRT station broke into tears after a woman bought a $6 bottle holder.
She was overwhelmed with emotion as it was her first sale in days.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.