THE jumbled aisles of discount shop Pricerite may be the last place one expects to find Rodney Fitch, a British architect and interior designer who has worked closely with trend-setting tycoons Sir Terence Conran and Richard Branson. Dirty tiled floors, glaring fluorescent lights and cheap plastic ware and furniture would never fit in with the cool, clean images cultivated by Habitat founder Conran or Branson's Virgin Airlines.
But the gregarious Mr Fitch senses opportunity. Emboldened by (pre-recession) reports that Asian retailing is maturing rapidly, and by a belief Asians will want to shop in the same comfort and style as Europeans and Americans, he is optimistically pursuing clients here.
'Hong Kong will [follow the same trends as overseas], absolutely, because human beings all over the world were put on the Earth to shop,' he said, pointing out that retailing is the world's largest business.
How people shop is Mr Fitch's concern. His office, which just celebrated its first anniversary in Hong Kong and has branches elsewhere in Asia as well as a head office in London, deals with the physical side of retailing - making shops comfortable and inviting to customers.
He did not find those qualities when he first moved his burly figure around Pricerite some months ago. There was no well-organised display of goods, no placing of like goods together, no clear shop identity.
'It was just a place full of stuff, it had no rhyme or reason,' he said. 'My impression is that hitherto, Hong Kong retailers have had it very easy.