Tony Lee, a pharmacy owner who had sold overseas beauty products for six years, said the number of customers had only increased by 10 per cent in the last week.

“Before the pandemic, there used to be lines of customers queuing outside my shop and this street was full of tourists,” he said.

He said he feared business might not get back to the boom times before the pandemic in the long term as most customers opted for online shopping platforms instead of his store’s website.

“During the pandemic, the economy and lifestyle of the mainlanders changed … They have become reliant on online shopping,” Lee said.

He was speaking after cross-border travel returned to normality last Monday after the authorities dropped the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test requirement and quotas for visitors and reopened all checkpoints.

Lee said many pharmacies had closed down during the pandemic and some new ones had opened in the past weeks.

He explained his store was able to survive because his landlord had agreed not to increase the rent.

A staff member at another pharmacy said business was only at 20 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and that “many people have become used to buying things in the mainland and on the internet”.

Before the pandemic and the 2019 anti-government protests, Sheung Shui, one MTR stop away from Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau, was swamped with mainland tourists and parallel traders interested in products with cheaper taxes and better quality than over the border.

The operator of a pharmacy on the area’s San Hong Street for 15 years, who identified himself only as Tang, said the number of customers only accounted for 20 to 30 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and agreed business might never get back to peak levels.

“I also set up an online store but currently most of the customers are from Hong Kong,” he said.

Hong Kong residents living near border fear return of traders and shoppers

Deng, 29, an administrative officer who lives close to the Lok Ma Chau control point, and a friend were spotted on San Hong Street with a suitcase.

She said she had already visited the city once after the partial border reopening in January.

“I want to buy some daily necessities. When I came the last time, there were not many products available in Sheung Shui,” Deng explained.

She added she had a budget of around 2,000 yuan (HK$2,305) and was also interested in buying gold.

“The atmosphere is quite good. Quite a number of people are entering and leaving the city. But there are less compared to before,” Deng said.

Another tourist from Futian, who identified herself only as Zhang, said she had noticed that half the pharmacies on San Hong Street had closed as a result of the pandemic.

“The change is quite big in terms of customer flow and the shops. In the past, I could choose from different shops but many pharmacies I used to go to have closed,” she said.

“There are many butcher shops now and shops catering to the needs of Hongkongers.”

190,000 cross Hong Kong-mainland border on first day of full reopening

Dozens of mainland visitors wheeled suitcases to fill with shopping and some queued outside luxury designer stores on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Huang Tianxue, who came from Guangzhou with her husband and sister for a three-day trip said they had spent around HK$80,000 (US$10,190) on handbags.

“I went to Dior, my sister shopped at Chanel and my husband went to Burberry buying gifts for our daughters,” the 42-year-old shoe factory director said.

Huang said she also planned to buy watches, perfume and beauty products before the trio returned home on Monday.

Zheng Jun, 28, a senior laboratory technician from Shenzhen, was among 20 shoppers who had lined up outside luxury goods store Louis Vuitton. He said he had spent about HK$28,000 on a handbag.

“It’s a surprise gift for my fiancée’s birthday in April. I saved money for quite a while for this and buying it from Hong Kong guarantees it’s a genuine product,” Zheng, who will return to Shenzhen on Wednesday, said.

Grace Ye Yunting, 24, a vlogger on video sharing service Douyin, also from Shenzhen, spent about HK$9,000 at Nathan Road’s Sasa Cosmetics on La Mer moisturiser at HK$2,398 for 100ml and six bottles of perfume.

“I love that moisturising cream and I calculated that buying it with Hong Kong dollars is cheaper than with yuan in the mainland,” she said. “And I love buying perfume here because of the brand variety.”