China’s largest toy retailer launches fifth Lego shop, builds on resilient demand among Hongkongers stuck at home because of Covid-19

Kidsland International Holdings, China’s largest toy retailer, is bucking a downward trend in Hong Kong’s retail sector to open a new Lego shop in the city’s Tuen Mun district.

The 2,400 sq ft store in tmtplaza — its fifth in Hong Kong — is set to open on April 29 and is targeted at the local community in New Territories West. It will also serve as a base for home delivery service for online purchases.

“We see resilient demand for Lego products for kids and for those who are spending more time at home,” Sherman Hung, the Hong Kong-listed retailer’s executive director, said in an email. “We believe a highly integrated offline and online operation will thrive in the redefined retail landscape post Covid-19.”

Hong Kong’s retail sector has been hit hard by a double whammy of the anti-government protests, which kicked off last summer, and the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak. Unemployment in the city’s retail, tourism-related and food and beverages industries rose to 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of the year, the highest level since October 2009 following the global financial crisis, according to government statistics released on Monday.

“Although the Covid-19 pandemic currently presents substantial challenges to the operating environment, the group’s Hong Kong business performance remains robust, and we remain cautiously optimistic about the group’s prospects and will continue to reform our operations,” Lee Ching Yiu, Kidsland’s chairman and chief executive, said.