Hundred Year Old Snack Shop in Guanqian Street 观前街

We were just walking along the Guangqian Street and I was wondering just how much of this street is old or heritage-worthy when we ran into this large snack shop. The style of Chinese pedestrian shopping streets is that they try to give the impression of it being an old street. Guangqian street doesn’t really do a very good job at this. Probably there weren’t much old buildings left in the street so there wasn’t much to work with, thus it was no surprise to see them building supposedly old looking buildings here. However, the presence of this snack shop seems to tell me otherwise.

The snack shop here in Guangqian Street is one of several which claim to be more than a hundred years old. They probably weren’t as big as they are now, and most probably just started as a small stall along the side of the road. However, the more successful ones have become landmarks along Guanqian Street. Inside you can buy a lot of Suzhou’s famous snacks, none of which I was familiar with. There was also a large tea section at the back of the store for the people who prefer tea. Outside there was a queue to buy some freshly prepared snacks, I thought of trying them but the queue was long so I didn’t bother with it.

There were a few more of the hundred year old shops and I find them to be fascinating. Maybe you can learn a thing or two from them about managing a business since they can last that long. We merely passed by the other shops since they most probably sell the same stuff here. My friend doesn’t seem to be that interested in the good they are selling, probably thinking it is of questionable quality. I am in no position to judge these, but I can say that I have purchased snacks from these kinds of places and yet nothing untoward has happened to me, I think.

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