'We were like the last men standing,' Anna Adasiewicz, managing director of FINDS restaurant, says.
Founded by the late actress Colette Koo, FINDS had a huge following and had outlived the closure of several other businesses in LKF Tower in Central.
But after six years in the building, the Nordic restaurant was forced to shut its own doors and move because of a rent rise.
'In Hong Kong, you have no idea if your rent will be increased by 5 per cent, 50 per cent or 500 per cent,' Adasiewicz says.
She compares the lease renewal process to a land auction, with landlords often asking tenants to propose a number rather than vice versa. 'So you are basically going in blind. You never know what your competitors will bid.'
FINDS is just one example of a restaurant that was ousted because the landlord got a better offer. Despite being one of the building's oldest tenants, Adasiewicz's negotiations were futile.