Shopping revolution: the 50 years since Hong Kong’s first mall, Ocean Terminal, opened

As the P&O cruise ship Canberra entered Victoria Harbour, the vessel dwarfed an escort of junks welcoming it with firecrackers and a lion dance. At noon that day, 50 years ago, Hong Kong governor David Trench, surrounded by 2,000 guests, declared Ocean Terminal open.

The Canberra docked at the Tsim Sha Tsui facility at 4pm, and 2,000 passengers disembarked at the doorstep of Asia’s first US-style shopping mall.

It was March 22, 1966, and Hong Kong’s manufacturing industries were booming. Ocean Terminal, with 112 shops and space for parking, was a symbol of the colony’s growing wealth, and Trench predicted it would become a popular destination among tourists and residents alike. His prediction proved right. As the number of inbound air and sea travellers climbed, and local spending power grew, the city was on the cusp of becoming a shoppers’ paradise and a consumer society.

Homogenised malls are now ubiquitous in Hong Kong, but more than mere shopping meccas. People spend hours in the air-conditioned comfort of their boutiques and supermarkets, bars and restaurants, cinemas and even medical practices.

“Malls have developed to become a place for entertainment, from movies to ice skating and fabulous restaurants that are very important for shoppers,” says Adeline Lee, founder and CEO of Grey Shopper DPI, a retail services company.

Ocean Terminal opened to the public at 6pm, the South China Morning Post reported, under the headline “Crowds Flock To See New Attraction”. Tenants included “such well-known local companies as Cost Plus, Maxims, Colonial Dispensary, [tobacconist] Tabaqueria Filipina, Azzizi, Mode Elite and Beten’s”.

“The Terminal has also attracted overseas tenants who will run the largest restaurant in the Colony and small ‘off-beat’ shops dealing in stamps, coins, gloves, fishing tackle, or children’s quick portrait sketches and fancy fruit baskets.”