Hit with its lowest occupancy rate, the Golden Computer Centre in Sham Shui Po has vowed to offer lower prices than a competing computer festival in a bid to win back shoppers.
Two large-scale computer festivals will overlap next week: the Hong Kong Computer and Communications Festival running from August 20 to 23 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, and a 'mall festival' running from August 18 to 25 at several Sham Shui Po malls specialising in IT products - Golden Computer Arcade, Golden Computer Centre and New Capital Computer Centre.
One of the shopping centres behind the mall festival said intense competition had driven down the profits of retailers in the malls, making a number head for the exits.
Golden Computer Centre, which specialises in the sale of hardware such as monitors and notebooks, had seen its occupancy rate slide from 95 per cent last year to an historic low of 90 per cent this year.
In the past, retailers fought for vacant places in the mall, Lui Kin-chung of the Computer Association said. But the overwhelming number of computer festivals held in the city had plagued the centre, because monitors and notebooks were usually high on their agenda.
The first computer festival was held in 2002. In 2009 and 2010, there were five such festivals within 13 months, Lui said.
