Hong Kong retail sector fortunes polarised as fresh food shops get pandemic boost

Shops selling fresh meat and seafood thrived as people avoided restaurants and cooked at home, a trend reflected in rents and prices of premises

Clothing stores and jewellers suffered an existential downturn as border restrictions kept tourists away

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A woman walks past a closed restaurant in Causeway Bay, amid the third wave of coronavirus infections. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 8:30am, 16 Sep 2020Updated: 8:50am, 16 Sep 2020

Hong Kong’s shops have become more polarised during the coronavirus crisis, say industry players. Those selling fresh produce are doing a roaring trade while other high-street retailers struggle amid a near-total lack of tourists.

Shops selling fresh meat, fish and other perishable goods – the kind of produce available in wet markets – are thriving. Because of social distancing measures and a previous ban on restaurant dining in the evenings, more people have turned to buying groceries and cooking for themselves, driving up sales at these stores.

Meanwhile, stores selling clothes, watches and jewellery have suffered a massive downturn in sales, particularly those in tourist districts as border restrictions have cut visitor arrivals to virtually nothing.

“Under the pandemic, the shop market is now in heaven and hell, more polarised than at any time before,” said Edwin Lee, founder and chief executive of Bridgeway Prime Shop Fund Management. “Strips accommodating wet markets and cheap snacks in neighbourhoods are also seeing record high [prices for shops].”

The diverging prices of retail properties reflect the vastly different fortunes of the businesses inside.

A shop selling fresh fish at the Hop Yick Plaza in Yuen Long changed hands for HK$25 million (US$3.23 million) in late August. The price per sq ft at HK$92,593 was a record for a market produce shop, said Lee.

In contrast, other types of retail premises such as restaurants and garages are less sought after and incurred losses in at least nine transactions in August. That is a phenomenon not seen before, according to Lee.