Victoria Park's Lunar New Year Fair gets final touches
Stall owners put aside the soaring rent of the booths to finesse their stands, while arts students promote talents of ethnic minorities
Vendors were putting the finishing touches on their Lunar New Year Fair stalls yesterday, before thousands of visitors arrive in the coming week.
But many owners were also predicting a less profitable year because of the rocketing costs of booths - an increase they were reluctant to pass on to consumers.
Still, some flower stalls were already seeing brisk business yesterday before the fair's official opening today in Victoria Park. Narcissus sellers said their flowers were growing at the right pace to bloom in the new year.
On the other side of the fair, snake-related stall designs were thin on the ground. The animal's low popularity had dampened enthusiasm to advertise the coming Year of the Snake.
With fierce competition at the stalls auction in October, many dry goods stall owners reported paying exceptionally high rents.
Super Bowl King Traditional Snack paid HK$135,000 at the auction for the No60 stall at the Gloucester Road entrance.
May Chung Mei-wai, manager of the Hong Kong-style snacks business, said it was double what they paid for their stall in a different spot in the park last year. She hopes to attract customers by putting Pop Rocks carbonated candy into a traditional candy and coconut wrapper.