As I stated in last week’s blog, Hong Kong may not be the same as it was nearly two years ago when my wife and I visited. The political situation has altered the calm of Hong Kong. This post is a description of the Hong Kong I saw in July of 2018, not necessarily as it is today.
For many years Hong Kong has been one of the major shopping centers of Asia. Under the freedom and influence of the British, it was free to develop and grow into an international center of commerce and banking. When China took authority, there was still sufficient freedom to keep it an international shopping destination. Despite the recent political challenges, tourists are hoping China keeps it that way. Many love to shop in Hong Kong.
When we visited in 2018 we noted at least three types of shopping opportunities in Hong Kong. To a large extent a visitor’s financial situation determines the type of shopping experience. The top level is those luxury items that many people are hoping to find at a bargain price. Since I am not a luxury item shopper, I don’t really know much about shopping for them, but that shopping opportunity exists in Hong Kong.
There are three or four high end malls in Hong Kong. On our first day out we stumbled upon the Harbour City Mall. It is a huge mall that has a good variety of high end shops. Because of its size we kept walking and walking. We weren’t particularly shopping, but just taking in the experience while being in an air conditioned environment. We were also hoping to find a reasonable restaurant for dinner.
Before we settled on a restaurant it dawned on us that this mall had no place to sit. In American malls there are always couches or large chairs around for tired spouses or families to sit and relax for a bit before they move on. This mall in Hong Kong had no such seating. As we walked we eventually wanted to sit down and rest, but there was no place to do so. Puzzled we kept looking. Finally in the lower level where the children’s shops were grouped, we found some large cubes to sit on. However, as you can imagine, they were all occupied by tired families. We had to keep walking until we finally sat at a restaurant to eat.
The other large mall we visited was Times Square. What is interesting about this mall is it is more vertical with numerous levels. To reach the various levels, escalators rise in various locations. Some go up to the next level, some skip over a floor or more to get you up faster. It is quite unique. The mall is built around a large center space for the escalators so the shops are around the edges of the mall. The stores here are not quite as high end, but there are some well known brands. Here at least we had some tables to sit at when we indulged in some ice cream.
Around this mall are many other shops and some smaller malls. The Times Square Mall wasn’t particularly crowded inside, but the surrounding streets were quite busy. It is in these smaller malls and shops that it seems the average middle class Hong Kong shopper goes shopping.
One thing that is quickly evident are the eye-catching signs. In shopping areas they are everywhere providing a cacophony of color. There don’t seem to be any restrictions on them.
The second level of Hong Kong shopping is the tourist markets. Any guidebook will provide a list of the must see markets around Hong Kong. The biggest are general shopping type markets, but there are some specialty markets as well such as the goldfish market.
One of the most popular markets is the Ladies Market. When I think market, I think of a small booths with maybe tables, but in truth the ladies market is really a mall with cloth walls instead of more solid walls. As you walk down the center aisle, each space is usually overflowing with merchandise. The spaces themselves seem permanent, not something that is taken down each day as one might do in other markets.
What’s important to know about these markets is that many are selling fake brands. They sell name brand items as if they were real. Most shoppers realize they are fakes, but buy them because of the low prices. They are willing to buy them so people will think they are wearing name brand items.
In my earlier post “Your Money Matters” I raised the issue of whether buying fake goods is appropriate. My concern is not so much about hurting the company, but more about those who are making these goods. The low prices usually correlate to low wages for the third world workers, who might include children. Wealthy Americans need to remember this as they hunt for their bargain name brand items.
Sellers can be persistent if you show interest in something. My wife considered buying a panda bear for our daughter as it is her school’s mascot. However, the initial price was more than she wanted to spend. We walked away, but the seller followed us offering us a lower price which we eventually agreed to.
After visiting the Ladies Market during the day, it seemed the next big market was the Temple Street Night Market. However that was kind of a disappointment. It is really not much different than the day market. Much of the merchandise is the same type as at the Ladies Market. There were some different items, but overall it seemed to be just another version of the Ladies Market.
Promotional material seemed to indicate there would be food booths, but there were only a couple. Attending the night markets in Taiwan was much more interesting than the one we went to in Hong Kong. There were many more options for street food in Taiwan.
The final level of shopping in Hong Kong is the real street markets. These markets are geared for the people of Hong Kong; they are not tourist places. Since we were staying in an non-tourist neighborhood, we passed through a street market every time we got off the train. Here all sorts of things are sold from phone cases to clothes to that thingamajig you need to fix something at the apartment. As we walked by some of the booths my wife commented that it looked like someone had just dumped out their junk drawer to try and sell. Many of these items are used not new.
Nearby was the food market with produce and meats. We didn’t happen to see any supermarkets while we there there. There were some corner stores with items, but the street markets seemed to be where the average Hong Kong shopper bought much of what they needed.
We also noted that some types of shops seemed to concentrate in certain sections of the city. For example as we wandered the street near our hotel one morning we noted many shops selling fabrics. In fact there weren’t a lot of other kinds of shops around. Apparently this was the district to shop for fabrics.
In truth we didn’t really buy much in Hong Kong as we are pretty budget conscious when it comes to buying souvenirs. But the very act of shopping always gives one a sense of the life and culture of a community. I would particularly urge visitors to find the real street markets where locals shop to get a better sense of what Hong Kong life is like.
Being a major metropolitan the city is aglow at night. Next week I’ll share about the lights of Hong Kong. There are definitely some night experiences besides the night market that one must enjoy while visiting Hong Kong.
Acknowledgement: Silvette Lee took the photo “Chinese Dresses”
Would love to see the kinds of foods you saw or ate while you were there.
We are the least adventurous eaters, and Silvette doesn’t really like Asian foods, so we mostly ate American style foods. However if you look back at my posts from Taiwan, you can see some of the street foods we encountered (but didn’t eat)
I’m not sure I would’ve eaten any either, but they are intriguing.