Hong Kong retailers filling up empty shops, sending vacancy rates in tourist areas to 3-year low as ...

Hong Kong is missing something lately: empty retail shops Landlords are settling for lower rents for street-level shops - at least one was dropped by more than 70 per cent The combination has sent vacancy rates of street-level shops down to 56 per cent - a three-year low - in four popular tourist areas, said Tony Lo, a director at Midland IC &I.

The areas are Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Central and Mong Kok "Even those landlords with strong holding power are now willing to cut rents after leaving their spaces empty for a year or two," Lo said Retail sales jump 114 per cent as Hong Kong shopping recovery rolls on.

"Shops can be rented out within a couple weeks after being vacant for a year or two since the retail in the city turned soured," said CEO Daniel Wong Hon Shing of Midland IC&I Group, a local agent with focus of industrial, commercial and shops A quarter of shops in the four core districts are now food and beverage stores while fashion retailers account for 13 per cent, and jewellery and watch sellers are about 5 per cent, data from Midland show. . Source