The Whitewaways was Ipoh's equivalent of the Robinsons in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. I'm not sure when Whiteaways closed its doors, but it must have been in the 1960s when British goods became too expensive for Malayans, and also because of the competition from Japanese and other Asian goods which were becoming better and better made.

The Whiteaways was still doing business in the early 1960s because I remember my mum bringing me to Whiteaways when I was still in primary school to buy my Cub Scout uniform... shirt, pants, stockings, belt, neckerchief and a cap styled after that of an English schoolboy's. (Wish I had kept the cap.)

In recognition of the wide variety of goods sold at the Whiteaways, the many Indian owned metal scrap and junk shops along Jalan Bendahara (Teet Syuen Loh in Cantonese, or Tin Dredge Road) were nicknamed the Indian Whiteaways.