The demolition of the old Hilton Hotel in Central three years ago marked the end of the 20-year-old jewellery business Helen Ng Ying Yuk-lin and her husband operated, and signalled the beginning of their early retirement.
But two years into their life of leisure, the couple became bored. So, at the urging of a nephew in the fashion retail business, they agreed that opening a women's boutique was a worthy enterprise into which to channel their energy.
'We saw it as a nice role to play and we thought it was a smart move,' Ms Ng said. Now, seven months later, the Trio Boutique at Plaza Hollywood has still not broken even as the couple had anticipated. Worse, she says, they are strapped to a three-year lease that will sink the business deeper into debt.
'Business is terrible. My husband doesn't even come in any more. He's given up,' the 53-year-old says, with a slight edge of anxiety.
'Other malls have businesses around them and office workers. We just have housing estates. People who come to shop are housewives who don't have as high a salary as office workers do.' The opening of Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill last summer now appears ill-timed. Both independent and established retailers had barely settled in before they were hit by the retail slump.
Some people are counting on Galaxia, a newly built five-tower housing estate built behind the plaza to feed a constant stream of customers. A massive exhibition of the Wheelock & Co development in the plaza attempts to draw buyers, as do advertisements in store windows.