Are Russell Street’s glitziest days over, as Covid-19 mask shops replace Prada and Burberry in Hong Kong’s retail slump?
- An expected relaxation of social distancing measures after April 20 and the distribution of consumption vouchers has led many landlords to raise rents and narrow discounts
- ‘Usually, monthly rents are below HK$200,000 for these mask shops. Any higher and they will not survive’
The street was taken over by mask retailers that paid much lower rents following an exodus by the big names that once made Causeway Bay a shopping mecca for tourists. But this trend may be fading, as Hong Kong rents seem to have bottomed out, Midland IC&I said.
“Usually, monthly rents are below HK$200,000 [US$25,551] for these mask shops. Any higher and they will not survive,” he said. “So there will not be so many in the future.”
Mask shops mushroomed in Hong Kong’s four core shopping districts during the coronavirus pandemic. They recorded the largest increase in the short-term tenancies category, which more than tripled from 30 in the third quarter of 2020 to 113 in January this year, according to Midland. Mask shops increased from just one to 50 in this period. In short-term tenancies, however, landlords and owners can usually ask to exit a lease after one or two months.