A Stop at the “Memory Corner Shop”

The school gate and a 2,000-dong note

Back then, when school let out, our greatest “fortune” was a crumpled 2,000-dong note hidden at the bottom of a school bag.

One of us pedalled hard while the other clung to the rack on the back, and we would pull up at the familiar corner shop by the school gate. Jars of rainbow-coloured vitamin C sweets, tubes of bubble paste you blew through a straw, little packets of children’s instant noodles crushed and sprinkled with their salty-sweet seasoning… Humble treats, yet each held a whole sky of carefree days.

Why can a scent take you back to childhood?

As grown-ups we race from deadline to deadline while life rushes by. Amid that exhaustion, we sometimes long for a familiar stop where we can be comforted. No need for Doraemon’s time machine: scent is the most magical return ticket there is. (We look at why in Why a Scent Can Take You Back in Time in Seconds.)

Thơmore knocks on the door of the “Memory Corner Shop”

Thơmore knocks on the door of the “Memory Corner Shop”, borrowing scents steeped in Vietnamese culture as the key that throws open the drawer of childhood. A little sentiment, a little familiarity: just enough to settle your heart and make you smile like the schoolchild you once were.

You’ve had a long day. Pause for a moment and tell Thơmore: which school-gate treat or toy do you miss the most?