While other children dismissal spelt homework or playtime for other children, one boy was busy tending a stall that sold crystals and precious stones after school. Decades may have gone by since, but today, he remains preoccupied with the same pursuit in a humble shop along Lorong 6, Toa Payoh. Mr Steve Soh’s interest in Feng Shui began during his school days, when conversation topics like fortune-telling and astrology sparked off a flurry of excitement among his peers. What started out as curiosity slowly turned into the passion, albeit one that took a time to bear fruit. Mr Soh spent 10 years as an engineer in a Japanese company before deciding it’s not where his heart lies. That was when he started Ju Jing Xuan Trading. Ju Jing Xuan Trading is a family business that would not have materialised without his wife, Ms Chen Xiao Qin. Ms Chen was acquainted with the field when her cousins, who were previously F&B operators, switched to this line of work during the SARS epidemic in 2004. She lent them a hand and picked up expertise which enabled the couple’s first foray into the industry. Recently in 2015, the company became Ju Jing Xuan Pte Ltd, specialising in Feng Shui consultancy through the reading of physical environments, birth characters and facial features. They are also a retailer for auspicious ornaments like Jadeite, Amber, Dzi Beads, Buddhist Statues and other precious stones known to enhance the positive chi in homes and offices. Success is never without the strenuous process of trial and error. Since its establishment in 1996, Mr Soh and Ms Chen have tried starting branches in Ang Mo Kio and West Coast, and in the Fujian province of China. These plans had to be aborted later when the business scaled faster than they could manage. It took a great deal of experimentation, hard work and sound decisions for the 2 branches to be rooted in Toa Payoh and Woodlands today. Their stance against expansion only served to underscore the business’s philosophy—the age-old concept of quality over quantity. While most corporations are largely driven by profit, Mr Soh fears that accelerating the company’s growth will discount its ability to take care of existing customers. His unwillingness to risk that is a promise of dependability to the customers. The success of Ju Jing Xuan can be attributed to product quality and service attitude. The shops’ selections are the result of painstaking curation and stringent sourcing from regions like Australia and Hong Kong. Mr Soh prides the business on integrity and believes that longstanding relationships are based on trust. In an industry met with staffing and rental challenges, that is Ju Jing Xuan’s secret to staying competitive.