Gordon Sai Louie & Co (171 Onehunga Mall)

From the late 1929 until 1988, this shop belonged to the Sai Louie family. They had a market garden plot in Newmarket and sold fruit and vegetables from this shop, selling to locals and to coastal ships in the port of Onehunga. The family owned a ginger plantation in Fiji and exported muk yee (wood ear fungus) from Taranaki to China. In 1890, almost half of New Zealand’s exports to China were in the form of muk yee. In return, the Sai Louie family imported Chinese delicacies such as thousand-year eggs and the raw ingredients of bird’s nest soup.

Continue along Onehunga Mall and then turn left at Church Street. Continue along Church Street until you return to the Onehunga Library.