‘Yellow’ Hong Kong shops slammed by Covid-19 hope protester campaign will help fill gap left by missing mainlanders

A shopping and dining campaign aimed at supporting Hong Kong businesses that publicly identify with the anti-government protest movement gathered steam on Friday as the “golden week” holiday kicked off, with crowds queuing at eateries and shops across the city.

The hoped-for spending spree, a bid to provide relief to so-called yellow businesses battered by the Covid-19 downturn, began on Thursday following the launch of an online campaign dubbed “Hongkonger’s 5.1 Golden Week” by organisers.

A total of 2,305 restaurants, retailers, leather crafters, beauty shops and other businesses were taking part by slashing prices to attract customers, according to campaign spokesman Sum Chai.

“We haven’t contacted the participants, so we don’t have an actual idea of how their businesses are doing these past two days. But we’ve seen an increasing number of people in the streets, with some queuing up outside the ‘yellow’ shops. We feel that the feedback so far is quite good,” he said.

The term “yellow” refers to the so-called yellow economic circle, supporters of which advocate spending money in stores that publicly support the protests that erupted last June, and shunning those that do not. Stores that back the establishment and police force are deemed “blue”.

Some companies taking part have gone so far as to advertise special discounts for customers who raise five fingers on a hand, and one finger on the other, symbolising the protest slogan “five demands, not one less”.

The campaign is a twist on the traditional “mini golden week” period, in which consumer spending typically soars due to an influx of mainland tourists. A longer golden week holiday accompanies China’s National Day every October 1.

But with border controls severely tightened amid the coronavirus pandemic, the city’s tourism and retail sectors have had little to look forward to with this year’s break, as a mandatory two-week quarantine has slowed cross-border visitors to a trickle.

Chai said many yellow businesses on the brink of closure were hoping the four-day event could stimulate consumer spending and help them stay afloat amid the pandemic, which has taken a devastating toll on Hong Kong’s economy.

“We don’t expect this event will bring a lot of business to them. That is impossible. We just hope to send the message – these yellow shops need Hongkongers’ support, and we need to help each other ride out the storm,” he said.

At about 1.30pm on Portland Street in Mong Kok, Lee Wai-lok, who is in his 40s, was waiting with a friend at the end of a long queue of more than 30 people outside Jie Genge, a Taiwanese cafe known for supporting the anti-government protests.

“We came here to support yellow shops, because the coronavirus situation is getting better,” Lee said. “Hong Kong’s economy has been greatly hit by the pandemic in the past few months.”

Lee, who works in the education field, said he had seen far fewer people on Friday at the Langham Place shopping centre compared with last year.

“I spent more time and money shopping than usual because the environment at the mall was better, not crowded,” he said, adding he rarely went out to shop or relax over the past few months due to the pandemic.

Wong spent some HK$2,000 (US$258) on consumer goods, including clothes from the mall, he said.

On the other side of Portland street, a traditional Hong Kong tea house, or cha chaan teng, deemed pro-establishment, had about half the number of diners as its Taiwanese counterpart.

“The restaurant was full at the same time last year, with long queues outside,” a waitress said.

Unlike the hustle and bustle of last year’s golden week, jewellery shops and drug stores on Nathan Road were near empty.

Hong Kong protesters plan mini ‘golden week’ hijack to boost ‘yellow’ businesses

Raymond Wong was working in one of the drug stores with his colleague at about 2pm on Friday.

“We sold only several hundreds of dollars of goods so far,” Wong, who is in his 40s, said. “Normally, one day of revenue for a drug store in this area during mini golden week is about HKD$100,000, because many mainland travellers come for shopping.”

With the various lockdown measures in place, drug stores have lost their main source of customers, he said.

But police supporter Kate Lee Hoi-wu, 51, a single mother who runs Ngan Loong Cafe in Lei Yue Mun, said while the lack of mainland customers had caused her business to drop by half, local fans unfazed by the pandemic had kept her afloat.

“With loyal local customers, I can be counted as lucky, as I still manage to earn about HK$10,000 a day. That is very good for a small restaurant like mine,” she said.

But Ngan said all businesses, no matter their protest stance, had suffered amid the ravages of the pandemic, saying she had seen both yellow and blue shops go out of business.

Tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing, meanwhile, poured cold water on the weekend yellow circle campaign, saying it would not help much given the way Hongkongers’ spending power has diminished.

“This campaign won’t help a lot for struggling businesses. The most important thing is to restore people’s spending power so consumers are happy to go out and spend,” he said, adding the hotel sector had never been hit so hard.

The struggle could be felt in Causeway Bay on Friday, where pharmacies stocked with essential drugs and cosmetic products popular with mainland tourists were largely empty.

Pak Lok medicine at Paterson Street had put up signs saying its lease would expire soon and that it was selling at a loss just to clear the shelves.

On nearby Lockhart road, a salesman from Wing Lee Dispensary said there had been a 70 per cent drop in business compared to previous years despite offering a 20 per cent discount on some items.

“It was quite busy last year, although it wasn’t so bad we had to skip our lunch break,” said the salesman, who asked to remain anonymous as he was not authorised to speak on record.

“But there wasn’t a single mainland tourist this year,” he said, adding that local customers, who normally make up 60 per cent of its business, had also dwindled.

Mainland visitors accounted for about 80 per cent of the city’s tourist arrivals before the outbreak.

Additional reporting by Chris Lau