Luxury stores exit Russell Street, Hong Kong, once the world’s priciest retail strip, amid tourist slump over Covid-19 and protests

With tourism drying up thanks to anti-government protests and Covid-19, luxury brands Rolex, Omega, La Perla and Kiehl’s have shut stores in Causeway Bay street

Vacancy rates are at a record high, and more luxury stores could shut if mass-market or discount stores occupy the pricey premises the top brands vacated

4-MIN READ4-MIN

The former Omega store in Russell Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Often ranked the street with the world’s highest commercial real-estate rents, it has seen an exodus of global luxury brands accelerate. Photo: Vincenzo La Torre

Published: 5:45pm, 7 Sep 2020Updated: 9:16am, 8 Sep 2020

Russell Street in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, one of the city’s premier shopping destinations and often in the past the one with the world’s highest commercial real-estate rents, is a shadow of its former self.

Watch brand Rolex, lingerie label La Perla, skincare brand Kiehl’s and watchmaker Omega have all closed stores in the prime retail location in recent weeks, following in the footsteps of Prada, which was the first major global brand to on the street to shut up shop this year.

La Perla signed a five-year lease in September 2015 for four floors, the rooftop and external LED display at 22-24 Russell Street, Hong Kong Land Registry records show. It was paying HK$7 million (US$903,000) rent a month to Emperor International Holdings for the 6,555 square foot (609 square metre) property, or HK$1,068 per square foot, according to sources. Its lease expires this month.

In 2018, La Perla faced eviction from its Russell Street store after the landlord claimed the Italian brand owed HK$9.21 million in rent.

Russell Street was as empty as its luxury stores, such as that of Italian lingerie firm La Perla, in February 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak kept shoppers away. Photo: Sun Yeung

Kiehl’s, the New York-based skincare brand owned by French conglomerate L’Oreal, was paying between HK$600,000 and HK$700,000 a month for its 800 sq foot store at 28 Russell Street.