Transformers restaurant joins Five Guys and Ruby Tuesday to turn Hong Kong’s Russell Street from world’s priciest fashion strip into foodies’ haven
- It is the latest in a stream of international restaurant chains to land on the street in Causeway Bay this year
- The vacancy rate at Russell Street rose from zero in Q1 2019 to 7.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, according to JLL
Hong Kong’s Russell Street is seeing a dramatic change in character as it transitions from a luxury retail hub into a culinary draw, with the world’s first Transformers restaurant set to take the space formerly occupied by fashion house Burberry in the fourth quarter this year.
It will be the latest international restaurant chain to land on the street in Causeway Bay following burger outlet Five Guys and Ruby Tuesday, in what was once one of the most expensive retail venues in the world.
Restaurant-operator A La Carte (HK) Limited, the wholly-owned food and drink division of Hong Kong-headquartered technology company iFREE GROUP, said in a call with the South China Morning Post on Friday that the restaurant – which is based on the Transformers movie franchise - will complement the neighbourhood by attracting more people, from kids to senior citizens.
“Changing from an apparel and jewellery sort of retail experience, to more of a culinary one? I believe so,” said Tony Smyth, senior vice-president of corporate development and communications for iFREE GROUP, when asked about the location. “That is how you create this synergy and this kind of cluster or hub. And it’ll be beneficial to everyone in that community.”
“The Transformers franchise is very current in a lot of different ways … we’ve also got the comics, the cartoon universe as well and it appeals to all cross sections of age groups in society,” said Smyth.
A La Carte is fully licensed by play and entertainment company Hasbro Inc to run the Transformers theme in Asia.
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The Transformers restaurant will take up 4,540 sq ft in Soundwill Plaza, costing HK$500,000 (US$63,693) in rent per month, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked to remain anonymous. The restaurant will occupy most of the ground and first floor, all of the second floor and sell merchandise.
The new rent is around a quarter of what the former Burberry store paid, which was reportedly HK$2 million per month for around 5,200 sq ft, before it decided not to renew the 10-year lease that expired earlier this year. The fashion house paid HK$8.6 million per month in 2015, at the height of a retail boom in the city, before rents fell off, the Post reported in November 2021.
“We will all support each other,” said Smyth. “We will become an iconic destination and the overflow from our neighbours, and from us to them, will be beneficial to the whole F&B community in the area.”
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Ruby Tuesday recently leased part of the space vacated by Prada at Plaza 2000, measuring 5,042 sq ft at HK$265,000 per month, according to people familiar with the situation, who declined to be identified. Five Guys last year took up space left by Sa Sa at Emperor Centre, measuring 7,041 sq ft at HK$500,000 per month, according to the people familiar.
For “rent level, it’s definitely no comparison to the old days,” said Oliver Tong, head of retail, Hong Kong at real estate firm JLL. “Three years ago, before Covid, before social unrest, it would be hard to imagine there would be so many restaurants [in Russell Street].
The vacancy rate at Russell Street rose from zero in the first quarter of 2019, before social unrest and the initial outbreak of Covid-19, to 7.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, according to JLL.
“Things have changed since then, let’s say two years ago. Prices do fluctuate,” said Smyth, who noted that such prime shops with high “visibility” do not come up that often.
JLL’s Tong said that with more local-driven business now in Hong Kong, because of the lack of tourists, having more F&B would definitely benefit local residents, with more dining options in prime stores.
But Tong expects the restaurant trend to “slow down a little bit”, with only one to two more restaurants able to afford the rent at Russell Street this year.
Before April, many of the landlords were quite flexible on the terms for properties on the first and second floor in Russell Street, “definitely” less than HK$100 per square foot a month, which was very appealing to many of the F&B operators, said Tong. But landlords have become “more aggressive now”.
