Hong Kong protest supplies: the pop-up store doing a roaring trade in helmets, goggles and gas masks
- ‘National Calamity Hardware’ has held two pop-up sessions in Mong Kok and Tai Po, with items such as gas masks quickly selling out
- Owner Lee Ching-hei gives big discount to students – nearly 90 per cent off – and uses Facebook and Telegram to advertise his appearances
Lee Ching-hei runs a pop-up store in Hong Kong, but instead of offering the latest food trends or fashion must-haves, he sells another highly sought-after commodity: protest supplies.
Helmets, goggles and gas masks are bestsellers at “National Calamity Hardware”, which has held two pop-up sessions in the districts of Mong Kok and Tai Po – both major hotspots during Hong Kong’s two months of huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests.
“We sold 50 to 60 sets of gas masks in the first hour of business, so we’re sold out now,” the 33-year-old businessman said while fitting a customer for a helmet ahead of a planned protest in Hong Kong’s Tai Po neighbourhood.
Lee has been an avid collector of gas masks – dubbed pig snouts in Cantonese – even before the protests began. “So I had a really large number of 3M masks saved up,” he said, referring to the most popular brand among protesters as his shop bustled with customers.
Hong Kong’s protesters have been gearing up with increasingly protective equipment as clashes become more violent.
