The challenge in Hong Kong is not to find good places to shop, but to stop
yourself from shopping on every street corner and avenue. Options abound
this is a city that spends. There are two main sales a year the winter
sale (end December to February) and the summer sale (July to September),
where discounts can go up to 70 per cent. Most stores stay open seven days a
week, and until late at night. If not, they usually close by 7 pm.
۞ Hong Kong Island
Stretching through the length of Sheung Wan and into Central are the famous
(and expensive) antique shops of Hollywood Road. Numerous boutiques offer
antiques and old Hong Kong memorabilia. It makes for great window-shopping,
unless you know your antiques. At the end of Hollywood Road, step down the
postcard-worthy Ladder St on to Upper Lascar Row, or as it's more popularly
known, the Cat St Market. This delightful lane has affordable (finally!)
antiques, souvenir stalls and some really great steals. It's a must-shop for
anyone on a budget.
▪ Connections MTR: Sheung Wan
Stanley Market ahead of Repulse Bay is for Hong Kong and China souvenirs,
from Chinese dresses to traditional tea sets and postage stamps.
Chinese medicine
If you have ailments that have been dogging you for ages, Hong Kong
specialises in traditional remedies that can contain more than 400
ingredients including ginseng, tiger penis and assorted gall bladders. Walk
into Sheung Wan for shops where herbalists recommend a cure from the mounds
of dried seafood, fungi and roots on display. On-the-spot consultations are
often given. Choose a Sheung Wan street depending on your interest. Wing Lok
Street, just west of Western Market, is for ginseng and birds' nests shops.
Next is Des Voeux Rd for dried seafood. The streets south of Ko Shing Street
and east of Wo Fung are for Chinese herbal medicines.
Western Market
The maroon hues of this brick-and-tile market house an endearing and
wonderfully historical market. A gentle antidote to the super malls, sports
dessert cafes along with handicrafts, antiques and textiles (definitely stop
by Handmade Dessert on the first floor). Chinese antique shops are on the
first floor.
▪ Location New Mkt St, Sheung Wan
▪ Connections MTR: Sheung Wan; tram: Sheung Wan, or Western Mkt
▪ Timings 10 am-7 pm daily
Grow taller
The world condemned the Chinese for the traditional custom of binding
women's feet to make them appear smaller. Now, thank the Chinese for placing
artificial soles in shoes to add a few inches to the heights of the most
insecure of us. The shoes are so cleverly designed no one can tell where the
heel ends anyway. Get yourself to Grow Taller Shoes right between the
antique stores in Cheong Sun Bldg, on 118 Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan, and
ask for their elevator pairs.
Traditional Chinese clothes
A must-buy in Hong Kong is a tailored Chinese suit. Shanghai Tang, which
retails and makes to order traditional Chinese outfits, Chinese home
furnishings and accessories is one of Hong Kong's most famous names with
stores in the US and UK as well. It has outlets on Pedder Street in Central
and the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon, with price tags to match. A cheaper
option is the Chinese Arts & Crafts Centre (Tsim Sha Tsui, Wanchai, Pacific
Place), a chain of speciality stores offering garments similar to Shanghai
Tang's in wool, silk and leather: The stores also have a wide range of
Chinese handicrafts.
Hong Kong Island Malls
Hong Kong malls are ubiquitous, pricey and stock the very best in style and
haute couture. If you're in Central or Causeway Bay, you can't miss them.
Most malls are open daily from 9 am to 8 pm. There's Pacific Place at 88
Queensway (MTR: Admiralty), which with its three cinemas, supermarkets,
endless clothing stores and chrome-and-glass chic is more like a parallel
universe than a mall. Bang in the middle of Causeway Bay's best shopping,
Times Square, on Mathesan St (MTR: Causeway Bay) has entire floors dedicated
to, say, ladies clothes or electronics, and also has extensive collections
of Chinese and Japanese products. For luxury read Prada, Gucci and Armani
head for Landmark on Des Voeux Rd and Pedder St (MTR: Central).
۞ KOWLOON
Starting from the landmark Peninsula Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and extending
towards the Jordan MTR station, the stretch of shops, boutiques and street
stalls along Nathan Rd in Kowloon is known as the Golden Mile. The name is
quite apt since bright neon signs fight for every square inch of air space
as far as the eye can see, while seasonal lights brighten up any space left
on the ground. If you like your brands but can't deal with any more
claustrophobic malls, this is the place for you — it has both indoor and
outdoor shopping and dozens of eateries, cafes and juice stands to refresh
you along the way. For electronics, Little India in Chungking Arcade, Tsim
Sha Tsui is the place to go, where flaunting your Hindi can get you
discounts.
▪ Connections MTR: Tsim Sha Tsui/Jordan
Chinese brollies and more
There is never enough time to ask for good luck, so the Chinese incorporate
red into every quotidian detail of their lives. More than anything else, the
dainty red umbrella symbolises this obsession with propitiating good
fortune. Make your own investment with a lace-edged umbrella from the famous
Kowloon retailer, Hop Hing on Fuk Wah Street, which makes a great gift from
Hong Kong too. Not a good idea for a gift, though, would be the umbrella
caps mini brollies that fit directly onto your head.
Temple Street Night Market
Buy gifts for colleagues, distant relatives and almost any one else from
Temple Street, not because the goods on offer are average quality but
because the price in unbeatable. We bought a pair of shorts at Stanley
Market for HK$ 35 and the colours ran in the wash. We bought a pair for HK$
10 at Temple Street and the colours stayed fast. You will find watches,
T-shirts, jeans, lops, Chinese pyjama suits, stickers, fridge magnets, even
beautiful traditional black-on-white Chnese paintings of pandas and bamboo
forests that, framed, make an elegant gift for anyone you want to impress.
The best part is you can bargain down prices like HK$ 20 for three T-shirts,
which anywhere else in Hong Kong is unthinkable, save in the New
Territories.
▪ Location Along Temple St, up to Kansu St
▪ Connections MTR: Jordan.
Ladies Market
It's supposedly dedicated only to 'ladies' clothing, though the furry pink
thongs, garter belts and sheer negligees on offer might not be everyone's
idea of lady-like attire. Never fear, more conventional clothes are
available and for all genders. Ladies Mkt is smaller than Temple St, but a
great place to pick up some fine bargains, which explains the eternal crowds
thronging its narrow, stall-lined lanes.
Next door on Yuen Po St is the Bird Market, with hundreds of cages filled
with chirping birds for sale. The market specialises in song birds — ask for
a recital.
▪ Connections MTR: Mong Kok.
Sham Shui Po
The streets of Cheung Sha Wan, Yen Chow and Wong Chuk hold between them a
haven for cheap clothes in Shui Po district, to the west of Kowloon. Branded
factory rejects sell at wholesale prices here, but the biggest draw of Sham
Shui Po is the Ap Liu Flea Market on Ap Liu Street. Here, antiques, old
coins, stamps and other memorabilia sell at bargain rates, depending on your
ability. Depend on Ap Liu if you can't afford the shops on Hollywood Road in
Sheung Wan.
▪ Connections MTR: Sham Shui Po.
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