Throngs of mainland tour groups are a common sight at luxury retailers in Hong Kong's shopping malls, but they are now coming to the city for their daily needs, too.
The strong yuan and soaring food prices have prompted some marketing agents to organise shopping tours targeting staple items such as noodles, frying pans and bed linen rather than the usual designer gowns and hand-made wristwatches.
Li Ying, a Guangzhou-based executive with Panasonic, who joined a one-day shopping tour to the YATA department store in Sha Tin yesterday, said she planned to spend 8,000 yuan (HK$9,575) on goods ranging from skin-care products and bed linen to Japanese soya sauce, cooking oil and crackers.
'It may sound a bit weird that I should carry such bulky and low-value goods all the way back home, but really, some of these goods cost twice as much in Guangzhou.'
Another woman, who gave her name only as 'Ms Chung', said she visited Hong Kong nearly every month, picking up merchandise that included noodles, baby formula, diapers and cooking utensils, and spending up to 10,000 yuan a trip.
'With the difference in rates and sales offered by stores, we make 20 per cent savings on prices, and of course the goods are of better quality,' she said.
While inflation in the mainland rose 5 per cent last month, food prices rose 11 per cent.
