In other parts of the city, despite the decline in the wider financial picture, local organizations have continued to operate some smaller stores.
Christine Young, 33, and her partner Viola Wong, 36, were among the masses of buyers at Casetify’s store in Causeway Bay on Sunday.
Young, who works in e-commerce, said it was” saddening and upsetting” that it had become a craze among people to travel to Shenzhen or another coast cities over the weekends and holidays.
Young said it was all the more essential for people to support local retailers because it was more expensive than the island and that decision was dwindling as stores closed.
Young and Wong would frequently go to neighborhoods like Tai Hang to give local businesses their company, according to Young.
” We want them to be ready to survive”, Young said. ” We know if we do n’t, they may be gone some day soon”.
Near at Showa Film Camera, a locally owned photo shop with places in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, daughters Liu Yuen-ting, 31 and Eunice Liu Yuen-yiu, 26, browsed a selection of recyclable video cameras.
According to them, the sisters, who are also the masters of a neighborhood flower store, traveled especially from Tai Po to Causeway Bay to explore the camera store.
The younger Liu acknowledged that the majority of her buying was done online these days because of the ease and greater selection of products, but she still made an effort to help smaller retailers like native clothing stores run by local designers.
She added that the lens store, which sells second-hand classic tools, was an example of things” special” in the area that could not be found in Shenzhen.
Her sister chimed in,” Some shops in Hong Kong are actually unique.”
Hugo Tang Wai-yip, a 31-year-old team member who has worked at Showa Film Camera for six years, described his happiness as being “very happy” from consumers like the Liu daughters.
Tang claimed that his businesses had considered closing the Causeway Bay tree next year, but he had urged them to keep it running after receiving a lot of help from the neighborhood.
” There are always people who love this city, and we want to get those people”, Tang said.
It makes you feel good to see familiar eyes, even if it’s not every day, and that’s one of my intentions to keep doing it.
This content was the first to appear on SCMP.