Link Reit insists refurbished wet markets attract more shoppers, amid calls for lower rents and food prices
Company has come under fire recently, with claims that high rents have driven out small businesses
Refurbished wet markets have attracted 30 to 50 per cent more customers, the Link Reit said amid criticism of high food prices at its markets.
Myron Ng Hung-fai, assistant general manager of the Link, revealed the figures after the company said last month that it would not lower rents, saying poor facilities were to blame for low occupancy in some of its 78 wet markets.
“There were up to 50 per cent more shoppers in some wet markets after renovation, on average we had 30 per cent more. Amounts of goods sold have also increased,” Ng said on a DBC radio programme yesterday.
The Link’s management of malls and wet markets, which it acquired from the government in 2005, has come under fire, with critics saying the company has pushed up rents and driven out small businesses.
The government recently identified the problem as one of three contentious issues it aimed to resolve, and top officials have met company bosses to discuss concerns.
While 14 of the Link’s wet markets have already been renovated, including the Siu Sai Wan Market, which introduced the “i-Chicken stall” to allow customers to select live chickens via video link, Ng hopes to renovate the remaining wet markets gradually.