It may be an ordinary Monday afternoon, but the tiny toy store on Tai Yuen Street is packed. Students in uniform, young adults just off from work, middle-aged men, parents with small children and tourists are gazing at hundreds of colourful miniatures in glass boxes.
'Recently teenage girls have been interested in cute mini toys and mini food such as Japanese sushi, fancy cakes or Italian pizza. We stocked hundreds of different toys and all were sold out,' says Billy Lee, 24, who has worked at Hung Hing Toys for four years.
Dubbed Toy Street, the narrow alley in Wan Chai attracts customers from all walks of life. Even if you're not a collector, you'll be amazed at the diversity of and detail in the products.
Ranging from HK$10 finger-sized Nike trainers keyrings to HK$690 models from anime Gold Lightan, you can find a miniature of almost anything. On the shelves of vehicles, for example, there are fire engines, police cars, vans and cars of different models and eras.
'Middle-aged men love the model cars, especially the vintage vehicles. People in their 20s look for luxurious models like Ferraris. But robots from Transformers, Gold Lightan and Gundam are all-time favourites. We designed some of the products, while most of the figures are imported from Japan,' Mr Lee says.
Tai Yuen Street's fame started a decade ago when three toy stores opened. Choi Fat, the owner of Yat Sing Toys, says his store only sold conventional toys like stuffed animals and stationery at first.
'Over the years we've added products to meet demands. We didn't do promotions or marketing - the street became famous by word of mouth,' Mr Choi says.