Occupy worries fail to deter bids for stalls at Lunar New Year Fair

Prime spots for stalls at the annual Lunar New Year Fair in Victoria Park were auctioned off at record prices yesterday, despite concerns over how the Occupy movement might affect the week-long event.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it would not rule out cutting the fair short, reducing opening hours or cancelling it if crowd flow and traffic could not be managed.

Despite the uncertainty, wedding banquet and restaurant group Club One paid HK$570,000 at the 13th bid for a 7.6 by 4.8 metre space for a snack stand at the park's Gloucester Road entrance.

That figure was 72 per cent higher than the opening price, and HK$30,000 more than last year's winning bid, which was paid by the same group.

The other two large snack stalls that feature at the popular fair went for HK$410,000 and HK$360,000, while fierce bidding saw wet goods stalls in the park sell for as much as HK$63,000.

George Wong Fuk-wah, managing director of The Lifestyle Group, of which Club One is a member, said he expected to lose money, as he did last year, but felt it was his responsibility to participate at the fair to "raise the spirits" of fellow small and medium-sized enterprises.

"Occupy Central has affected us," Wong said. "We want to … do something practical to help Hong Kong and support the economy. We must show other SMEs that we are still willing to invest, or else the idea that [Occupy] will ruin businesses will be self-fulfilling."