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Fashion in Hong Kong and China
LifestyleFashion & Beauty

Valentino shuts store on Hong Kong’s Canton Road amid retail slump, the latest luxury retailer to reduce its presence in city

  • Italian fashion brand says it is closing its Harbour City store because lease has expired, days after Tiffany & Co confirmed it had shut its Canton Road shop
  • Canton Road has been one of the most important retail locations for world’s luxury brands, but recent street protests, and coronavirus, have seen sales plunge

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The Valentino store in the Harbour City mall on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, one of Hong Kong’s prime luxury retail strips, will close at the end of business on Monday, the Italian fashion brand announced. Luxury retail sales have plunged amid street protests and travel curbs to limit the spread of coronavirus. Photo: Shutterstock
Vincenzo La Torre
After jewellery brand Tiffany & Co. confirmed last week that in December it had shut its shop on Hong Kong’s Canton Road, one of the most expensive commercial real-estate locations in the city, Italian fashion label Valentino has become the second top luxury label to close a flagship store in the same location, effective immediately.
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Canton Road, along with Russell Street in the neighbourhood of Causeway Bay, was until recently one of the world’s most important locations for luxury brands worldwide.

The retail strip is one of the main commercial arteries in Tsim Sha Tsui at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula, and has long attracted wealthy shoppers from China who, until recently, were lining up outside the boutiques of luxury giants such as Hermès, Chanel and Gucci. The Italian luxury brand announced the closure on Monday.

Tiffany & Co. and Valentino join a list of international and local brands such as Prada, Omega, Hong Kong cosmetics chain Sasa and jeweller Chow Tai Fook that have not decided to renew leases for some of their stores after months of anti-government protests that began in the city in June 2019 and have hit the retail sector extremely hard.
Tiffany&Co confirmed last week that it had closed its Canton Road store (pictured) in December. Photo: Daniel Fung/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Tiffany&Co confirmed last week that it had closed its Canton Road store (pictured) in December. Photo: Daniel Fung/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
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Retailers are now struggling even more amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has kept travellers away from Hong Kong and caused the government to implement measures such as banning gatherings of more than four people.

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