Shopfront of John Little & Co., 1890s

Founded in 1842, John Little was Singapore’s oldest department store. Often advertised as ‘the finest store East of Suez’, it had departments for wines and spirits, provisions, home furnishing, watches and clocks, books and stationery, arms and ammunition, ladies and gentlemen’s outfitting, etc. Besides offering European merchandise, John Little also ran a car business, a motor garage, a furniture factory, a café and a beauty salon.