Why Does Anyone Open A Fish Shop?
Furry Corner is a second-generation shophouse business in Penang that sells aquarium equipment it uses itself.
How Did A Feed Counter Become This?
- 1994
The family opens a small feed and hardware counter in George Town, selling birdseed, buckets and whatever the neighbours keep asking for.
- 2003
A handful of aquariums go in beside the feed sacks, mostly because a regular wanted one and nobody nearby stocked them.
- 2011
Guan Seng takes the shop on from his parents, keeps the fan, and quietly turns half the floor over to glass and gravel.
- 2017
After one bad batch of imported pumps, the back bench becomes permanent, and nothing goes on the shelf until it has run for a week.
- 2022
Packing gets rebuilt around the courier, and Furry Corner starts sending tanks, stones and food out to the rest of the peninsula.
- 2026
Same corner, same fan, a larger range of pumps and food, and a customer list that has quietly grown roots across the country.
My parents sold feed and hardware on this corner for years before I put a tank on the counter, and they were fairly certain I had lost my mind. I inherited the shop, the fan and the customers, and all I really added was water.
Founder