By Telesha Ramnarine

FROM the moment you mention to the Route 47 mini-bus conductor that you’re stopping at ‘Duckie,’ you have nothing to worry about; he knows where you’re going. And that has been the case for the past 55 years since Randolph ‘Duckie’ Singh opened his shop.

Sitting on the corner of Russell (continuation of Camp Street) and Sussex Streets, Charlestown, Duckie’s General Store initially opened to the public opposite its current location. The shop turned general store, was the first to feature many things, including a television for the public and its signature cold milk and buns.

Singh, now 68, has decided to close the business because it hasn’t been doing well financially for some time now. He blames bad management for this, although it was something that he could’ve controlled once he was sitting in the shop. And even though hiring staff, he made it a point to be on base each and every day.

But his health continues to deteriorate too, and doctors, local and overseas, simply cannot make a diagnosis. At the moment, he says he simply cannot move; not even in a wheelchair. So lying on his bed, with all his conveniences in the room, Duckie reflected on his life as one of the community’s most well-known businessmen.
“I’m only hoping that god will give me my strength back,” he tells the Pepperpot Magazine. It is the only thing he can hope for because no one can explain his condition. “I am asking God for one chance; there’s still so much left for me to do.”

Given a second chance, Duckie would not think twice about getting back into business. It’s in his blood, so to speak. At the tender age of eight, he remembered going to help his relative with a business at the Albouystown Market. The business was stationed in front of Twin’s Pharmacy, and was quite huge, stretching many stalls down.

Four years later, at 12, Duckie, together with his mom Elise Appiah-Baksh (now deceased) and siblings went to rent the building opposite where he currently lives for $300 a month, starting up the shop there. He later bought the land opposite and started construction.

“We came from nothing and made ourselves something,” he expressed, as he remembered how his mom would make pastries and he would walk around the communities and sell.
Being in business for practically all his life, Duckie knows exactly what it takes to be successful. For one thing, he said it’s a must for the boss to be actively involved in the business. “I was always in the shop. When the boss is around is one thing; when he’s not, it’s a different thing.”

Perhaps his insistence on looking over the business is what kept him from migrating to New York when he was offered a ‘green’ card, even as the majority of his siblings accepted and went away.

It’s been one month since Duckie decided to close, but when persons offer to rent or buy the property, he still finds himself undecided. He gets emotional each time the thought of letting go comes up. “For years, I would just wake up, bathe, go in the shop, and start the day.”

“You have to know to speak to customers. Make them buy. If they come for something and you don’t have it, show them something else. And we stocked anything you can think of, from a bicycle part, to a paste, to a cotton wool. I knew the price for it all, where it was, when it needed to be replenished, etc.”
And in all of his 55 years of running the shop, Duckie said he has never had a robbery. He feels that this is because of how well he got along with people in the community. “I was very well-known. Everyone grew up knowing Duckie. I mix with the bad, the good, the ugly,” he said, as he reminisced on the olden days when everyone came together in the streets for Phagwah and other celebrations.

“Some nights we would close as late as 2 pm because I was the only man with a TV showing boxing on a Saturday night,” he remembered.
Duckie is married to Mavis Singh, and together, they have helped several kids in the community to attend school.