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Hong Kong’s retail landscape is changing as landlords lure restaurants to fill spaces abandoned by shops during pandemic
- The mix of tenants in malls and at street level is changing as restaurateurs pounce on slumping rents to expand
- Retail landlords are banking on them to boost footfall as people resume dining out amid an easing of Covid-19 restrictions
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Gordon Lam, a caterer, had to endure a long wait to open his fifth restaurant, as Hong Kong’s tough Covid-19 measures barred evening diners.
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SOW, a Chinese and French fusion fine-dining restaurant on Hollywood Road, finally opened its doors in June, after the pandemic scuppered the original target of February or March.
“Under the outbreak, there was no nighttime session. It could not be opened. Then we had to wait,” said Lam, who has about six years’ experience in the industry. “It was no use being worried, there was no solution. You cannot control these things, you just have to keep waiting.”
But the wait was more than worth it for Lam and his business partners. They had managed to find their ideal premises after a leisurely six-month search of numerous vacant spaces, many of them offering cut-price rents and additional incentives.
What enabled them to find their perfect location at a favourable price was a trend that has emerged in Hong Kong’s retail property market in the last couple of years.
An exodus of shops including many big-name international brands has left vast swathes of vacant spaces in malls and at street level. Now that Hong Kong has relaxed its social-distancing measures, but is still maintaining travel restrictions, many commercial landlords are turning to restaurant proprietors to fill the empty premises.
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