The strengthening yuan continues to make Hong Kong a shoppers' haven for rich mainlanders. But it is not all good news for the retailers, who have had to buy many of their goods from over the border at inflated prices.
At the opening of a five-day sale at Yata department store in Sha Tin yesterday, at least 300 mainlanders from as far away as Guangzhou had to tussle with about 3,000 local shoppers for discounted goods ranging from kitchenware to food, infant and bedding products.
Yata managing director Daniel Chong Wai-chung expects the five-day sale to bring 950,000 people to its two stores in Sha Tin and Tai Po.
'Shoppers are clever and they stock up partly because consumer price inflation is forecast to rise further and some have received the government's handout of HK$6,000,' Chong said. 'Sales are hotter than they were last year.'
Yata, a retailing arm of Sun Hung Kai Properties, holds sales twice a year.
Lin Ziwei and his wife took a day off yesterday, leaving their 10-month-old daughter at their Guangzhou home, to come to Hong Kong armed with HK$5,000 and a shopping list that included infant milk formula, food, quilts, clothes and shampoo.
'We will spend a day at the store,' Lin said after a three-hour trip on a shuttle bus to Sha Tin. 'The Hong Kong dollar is about 20 per cent lower than the yuan compared with some years ago, so it is cheaper to shop here. And the goods are authentic and of better quality.'