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Pandemic leaves Hong Kong’s ‘Ginza-style’ retail towers half empty as bars, restaurants struggle for survival
- A ban on evening dine-in services has brought many of the city’s restaurants, cafes and bars to breaking point and left them unable to pay the rent
- A visit by the Post found ‘Ginza-style’ high-rises – built on narrow lots with one retail business on each floor – in Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay were largely empty
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Landlords of Hong Kong’s “Ginza-style” high-rises are struggling to retain tenants as restaurants and bars – normally their bread and butter – battle to stay afloat during the pandemic.
Four such buildings – typically found on narrow lots with one retail business on each floor reached directly by a lift – in the commercial districts of Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay were largely empty when the Post visited on Tuesday.
A total ban on evening dine-in services as part of government measures to contain Covid-19, and a drop in demand as Hongkongers stay home to avoid infection, has brought many of the city’s restaurants, cafes and bars to financial breaking point and left them unable to pay the rent.
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“Eateries can only open until 6pm and can only do business in the lunch hour, but since many people are working from home now, lunch-hour sales have been greatly affected,” said Jeannette Chan Wing-wai, senior director of retail at JLL in Hong Kong. “You can’t replace those sales with takeaways.”
Named after the bustling shopping district of Ginza in Tokyo, the slender commercial towers grew in popularity over the years as rents soared for street-level retail spaces in prime shopping districts, where land is in short supply.
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