Luxury retailer Dickson Concepts (International) will invest $80 million in another Seibu store in Kowloon despite business slowing in the past two months.
Chairman Dickson Poon said yesterday the company had signed an agreement to lease a 52,000 square foot area in the shopping arcade of Kowloon Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Mr Poon said although buying sentiment had been dampened by the uncertainty over interest rate rises and the fluctuating property and stock markets, he was confident the new store would make a profit in its first year of operation.
'We're positive about the retail market in the long term ... our Seibu store at Langham Place attained profit within a year of operation,' he said.
The store will occupy almost all four storeys of the arcade and will open in December, about two years after the 20,000 sqft Seibu store in Langham Place in Mongkok.
Asked if the company was shifting its focus from Hong Kong Island where it has only one Seibu store, Mr Poon said: 'It's difficult to find such large prime sites, whether they are in Kowloon or Hong Kong. So we have to go to different districts to look for suitable locations.'
Dickson Concepts said the leasing agreement granted it an option to take up an additional 17,000 sqft of space in 2009, but refused to disclose further details.