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Hong Kong shopping guide
Travel tip ... if your holiday only involves travel to Hong Kong, it's sensible to leave plenty of empty space when packing your travel bags before catching a plane to the city. This way you'll have room for the treasure trove of "irresistible" items you'll want to carry home from your expedition through the Hong Kong shopping malls.
Some tourists bring little more than large, empty suitcases to Hong Kong so they have enough room in their luggage for their booty from the shopping malls.
Hong Kong has plenty of shops where you can purchase quality items at bargain prices, an example being the Pedder Building in the Central district where shops sell second-hand items that in many cases have never been used.
Hong Kong is also peppered with designer label shops selling elite fashion from around the world.
Remember that Hong Kong is home to an army of very talented tailors and similar craftsmen, and it's a great place to have cheap clothing made or possibly duplicated from worn originals you bring with you.
Many Hong Kong traders sell exotic fish, aquaria, reptiles and assorted small animals, often from tucked-away, second storey locations in different streets.
Before you get on a plane seat to begin your Hong Kong holiday, it's worth researching a guide to the city's shopping layout so you don't waste precious holiday time trying to find out where everything is.
Major shopping precincts worth investigating include Causeway Bay, Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei.
Note: The popular Bird Garden in Yuen Po Street has been shut down in June 2007 after a starling at one stall tested positive for bird flu.
Popular shopping mall precincts include:
| Admiralty just west of Wan Chai is centred around the glitzy Pacific Place shopping mall, which boasts more than 130 top-end retailers such as Marks and Spencer, Armani and Chanel, plus numerous restaurants and a movie theatre. Admiralty is otherwise a fairly bland cluster of office towers, hotels and shopping centres. Pacific Place is connected to the Admiralty MTR station. |
| Causeway Bay is the crowded nirvana of holiday shopping in Hong Kong. The main thoroughfare of Hennessy Road is usually overflowing with people and much of the area's fashion is aimed at young people. Causeway Bay is where you should aim for sports goods, household items, designer and street fashion, electronics and street markets, along with a bewildering number of restaurants, pubs, karaoke bars and nightclubs. The many shopping malls include the World Trade Centre, Times Square, the Caroline Centre, the Lee Gardens, Fashion Island and Lee Theatre Plaza. Times Square is a very popular new shopping mall complex with more than 130 upmarket shops, banks, restaurants and a theatre. Notable department stores in this precinct include Sogo, Lane Crawford and Mitsukoshi. Less expensive popular brand clothing can be found mostly in the laneway markets of Lee Garden Road and Jardine's Crescent. |
Central is the headquarters for government and financial institutions but also has plenty of fantastic shopping malls such as Alexandra House, The Landmark, The Galleria, Prince's Building and the International Finance Centre Mall. Designer clothing shops and exclusive brand stores are scattered everywhere in the Central precinct, which is also a great area to shop for cameras, antiques, books, curios and furniture. The world's longest covered escalator runs from Des Vouex Road Central near the harbour to Conduit Road in what are called the Mid-Levels. The escalator runs downhill only from 6am to 10am and uphill only from 10.30am till midnight, the journey from one end to the other taking about 20 minutes. It's sensible to avoid the morning rush hour before 9am on the escalator. In fact, it's sensible to avoid the morning rush hour anywhere in Hong Kong. It's worth catching an uphill ride on the escalator to the famous Soho district bounded by Shelley St and Staunton St, where you can enjoy great food stalls, intimate restaurants, cafes and funky bars. Popular streets for shopping in the Central precinct include:
| Des Voux Road West has a massive and bizarre assortment of exotic dried seafood.
Ko Shing Street is the place to go for herbal medicines and experienced herbal practitioners.
Win Lock Street and Bonham Strand West are lined with specialty shops selling ginseng and bird's nest.
Hollywood Road is home to antique and curio shops selling items large, small, obscure, cheap and expensive.
Upper Lascar Row is lined with traditional stalls and shops selling mostly curios and antiques.
Gage Street is where you'll find authentic, flavoursome food and drink such as noodles and herbal teas.
Lyndhurst Terrace is lined by shops selling paintings, ancient maps, prints, linens and silks, as well as antique / craft stores and beauty salons.
Stanley Street is a paradise for cameras, film and ancillary photographic items, often at far lower prices than back home. Don't be afraid to bargain. The Stanley St markets are arguably the best in Hong Kong for travelling families with young kids.
Li Yuen Streets East and Li Yuen Streets West are lined with stalls selling cheap casual clothing, leatherwear, watches, costume jewellery, luggage, shoes and bric-a-brac. Between Queen's Road Central and Des Voeux Road Central, these markets are open daily from 10am to 7pm.
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| Markets can be found throughout Hong Kong, most selling trinkets and smallgoods such as CDs, DVDs, budget clothing, costume jewellery, leather goods and other bric-a-brac. The better known markets are in Apliu Street, Jardine's Bazaar, Stanley Market and Temple Street. |
| Wan Chai just east of Admiralty is great for sports goods, footwear and clothing at low to medium prices. Johnston Road and Luard Road are lined with shops selling export clothing, often at prices among the lowest in Hong Kong. There are some excellent rattan and Chinese furniture shops along Queen's Road East. Wanchai Road and Spring Garden Lane are lined with shops selling household items, fruit, vegetables and clothes at competitive prices. Spring Garden Lane is in between Queen's Road East and Johnston Road. The Central Plaza, the second tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, is located in Wan Chai. A landmark of the Wan Chai shopping district is the massive Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre facing Victoria Harbour, boasting the world's largest window at seven storeys high. Wan Chai is also notorious for its bars and strip joints. |
| Stanley Market is located in one of Hong Kong's most famous coastal locations and is a warren of shops, stalls and restaurants. Historic laneways are overflowing with vendors selling Chinese paintings, furniture, silk collectibles, handicrafts, curios and souvenirs. Stanley Market is open from 9am to 7pm daily. |
| Tai Koo Shing in Quarry Bay has a huge purpose-built shopping complex called Cityplaza and is just above Tai Koo MTR station. The complex has an ice-skating rink, entertainment facilities and big variety of retail outlets and department stores. |
| Western Market between Morrison St and Connaught Rd, Sheung Wan, is an Edwardian-style building built in 1906. The market houses ground floor shops and stalls selling various products including assorted silks and fabrics, artwork and curios such as antiques, watches, candles and stamps. The first floor is full of clothing stores and tailors, and the second floor is a seafood restaurant. The area just to the west is famous for its abundance of small Chinese shops selling medicinal herbs and dried seafood. |
Kowloon
Mong Kok in Kowloon is a great shopping precinct if you want to choose from a wide range of sporting goods, cameras, electronics and beauty products. Mong Kok boasts the ever-spectacular Flower Market and different streets selling things such as aquariums and exotic fish. Songbirds in particular are the focus of stalls in Yuen Po Street. Tung Choi market, off Yim Po Fong St and near Mong Kok, is best known as the Ladies Market because of its abundance of women's costumes, cosmetics, handbags, jewellery, etc, but it is an open air bazaar, open each day from noon to 11.30pm, catering for both men and women and it comes alive in the evenings. It's OK to negotiate discounts with store traders and some bargains can be won. The nearby Jade Market has about 450 stalls selling jade in all sizes, shapes and prices, and is open from 10am to 5pm.
Yau Ma Tei next to Mong Kok has inexpensive clothing, jewellery and the famous Temple Street Night Market open from 4pm to midnight every day. |
| Tsim Sha Tsui is at the very tip of the Kowloon Peninsula and is easily reached via a quick ferry trip across the harbour from Central. This waterfront shopping precinct is home to department stores and designer fashion shops, jewellers and restaurants. Famous shopping malls and locations include Nathan Road and the enormous Harbour City with more than 700 shops under one roof. Harbour City includes Ocean Terminal where visiting cruise liners berth, and the terminal buildings connect to Kowloon Park across a pedestrian bridge. Smaller streets have stalls selling electronics, cameras, silk, leather and watches. Tsim Sha Tsui is an enormous area of endless dazzling retail outlets and needs several days to fully explore its endless nooks and crannies, including the Hong Kong Museum of Art on the harbourside promenade. Some great bargain can be found in the factory outlets along Granville Road while the famous Golden Mile at Nathan Road is renowned for its hotels, restaurants and nightspots. A massive new shopping complex to be called Elements in being built in 2007/08 just west of Tsim Sha Tsui, and this will include Hong Kong's tallest building, the International Commerce Centre. |
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Hong Kong's Consumer Council Hotline is 0011 852 2929 2222. The Council can be contacted for assistance if you have problems with a retailer or a purchase, or if you want suggestions about retail prices in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Police emergency number is 999. Note that all goods other than alcohol and tobacco are tax-free in Hong Kong. |
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