Glittering watches and necklaces are disappearing from one iconic Hong Kong shopping street as the city witnesses a continuing drop in mainland tourists, a new research report showed.
Russell Street in Causeway Bay, until a few years ago the world’s most expensive retail strip, has seen the presence of luxury watch and jewellery shops drop more than 20 per cent in the past two years, according to a report by property consultancy JLL.
Watch and jewellery brands occupied about 43 per cent of the shops in December, compared with 67 per cent in 2014, the report said. Their places have mostly been filled with fashion and cosmetics brands.
Hong Kong used to be a favourite destination for mainland shoppers. In 2012, Russell Street, with an average annual rent of US$2,800 per square foot, surpassed Fifth Avenue in New York as the world’s most expensive shopping strip, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Since 2014, retail sales have dwindled amid a series of pro-democracy protests, Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign and the appreciation of Hong Kong’s US-dollar linked currency.