GEORGE TOWN, Oct 15 — Tucked away in a narrow alley between two rows of shophouses, a huge pile of young and pandan coconuts spill out from large containers.

More are piled up like a small hill near the backdoor of a shophouse and a few large colourful umbrellas provide shade in the alley.

There are no signs except for one with the words "Kelapa Pandan RM4” and "Kelapa Biasa RM3.50” on the stand of one of the umbrellas.

Manning the stall is P. Rangan with his white beard and a colourful bandanna around his head. The 57-year-old expertly slices coconuts with a few smooth swings of his sickle blade to reveal just a small opening before adding straws and handing them to waiting customers.

"I’ve been doing this since I was in primary school when I started learning how to cut open coconuts for the juice,” he said.

No frills...the coconuts are served with a straw after Rangan sliced it open.

Selling coconut juice full-time has its hazards as Rangan has lost count of the times he accidentally cut his hands and fingers. More than 20 years ago, he almost severed the last finger on his left hand and after it healed, the finger does not work the same anymore.

Rangan only took over the coconut juice stall from his late father, A. Priakaruppan,  in 1987.

"My father was selling coconuts and coconut juice since the 1940s, even throughout the Japanese Occupation,” he said.

At that time, he said, all coconuts were local Penang coconuts from Air Itam, Batu Ferringhi and Teluk Bahang.

"We had plenty of coconut trees at that time so all we sold were local coconuts but about 20 years ago, we didn’t have such a large supply anymore,” he said.

Today, Rangan gets his supplies from coconut plantations in Perak.

"There is no other choice, all coconut plantations here are gone. Farlim in Air Itam used to be a huge coconut plantation but now, it’s a township,” he said.

Rangan’s stall used to be in a heritage shophouse along Abu Siti Lane next to the alley he’s in now. He lived with his family in the shophouse until the Rent Control Act was repealed in 1999.  His father died in 1992.

"We wanted to buy the shophouse from the owner but the owner said we must buy two shophouses together and we couldn’t afford it so we had to move out,” he said.

They moved out of the shophouse in 2000 and set up their stall in the alley next to it. Rangan rented another shophouse that faces Burmah Road with its back entrance opening out into the alley.

"I operate my business from this shophouse and my uncles and relatives stayed there,” he said.

The mounts of coconuts at Rangan’s alleyway stall.

Though another coconut juice stall took up the shophouse that Rangan used to operate from, it did not affect his business. He still takes in between 800 to 1,500 coconuts every two to three days from Perak.

"We have customers from over 30 years ago who know us so they will keep coming back and on hot days, we don’t have a shortage of customers,” he said.

Rangan said he is the third generation to be selling coconuts for a living as his grandfather also used to sell coconuts from a small pushcart.

"I will probably be the last generation in my family doing this because my sons are not interested... both are in university studying engineering and computer science. They are not interested in doing this at all, they don’t even want to help at the stall,” he said.

Rangan’s stall may have been around for over 70 years but it remains nameless till today.

"There’s no need for a name, people know me, they know our coconuts... we provide only the best quality coconuts. Let the coconuts represent my stall,” he said.

Coconut stall in the alley, Abu Siti Lane, George Town, Penang Time: 8am-6.30pm daily Closed on Deepavali