Lai See | New 7-Eleven in Lan Kwai Fong dismays bar owners

Bar owners in Lan Kwai Fong were dismayed some weeks ago to see a new 7-Eleven convenience store open up opposite Stormies at the top of D'Aguilar Street. Why the dismay?

The two 7-Elevens in Lan Kwai Fong are no ordinary 7-Elevens. Walk into one and you immediately see large display shelves jammed with imported beers, wine, liquor shots and more.

The beauty of these stores is that those looking for a night out in LKF can stop at one of these, buy drinks and then, since it is not illegal to drink in the street in Hong Kong, they can step back into the street and the music and throng that make up the LKF milieu.

And they can do it at a fraction of the price it costs to drink at nearby bars where you will pay HK$50-HK$60 for beer compared with HK$7-HK$12 for the same at a 7-Eleven. So well entrenched are these 7-Elevens in the LKF scene, they are jokingly referred to as Club 7 or Club 7-Elevens in the online entertainment blogs and magazines on the internet.

This arrangement is bizarre given that owners of bars and restaurants in the area go to enormous expense to fit out their premises and are subject to strict regulation by the Liquor Licensing Board. So it is hardly a level playing field to have 7-Elevens operating in the area with such a competitive advantage.

Some years ago a man with a small premises in LKF that carved chops, decided to invest in a couple of freezer chests, which he packed with ice and beer. He was closed down after a couple of weeks by the police but it transpired that on one Friday evening he did about HK$38,000 worth of business.