Hong Kong McNuggets, Rolex sales show business as usual

At the height of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests last month, jewelry chain Chow Sang Sang Holdings International Ltd. had to shut down two of its five stores along a stretch of Nathan Road in Mong Kok.

The busy area, one of three locations still blockaded by protesters, commands some of the highest retail rents in the city. Yet with 56 outlets across the city selling gold and Rolexes, the company has weathered the disruptions as its other outlets benefited from displaced business.

“We lost about 350 hours of business, but truth be told, that’s not very significant,” said company chairman Vincent Chow. “Mong Kok is tense in the sense of people having confrontations with the police, but they are not intent on looting and rioting.”

Chow Sang Sang’s resilience is not an isolated case. There’s plenty of evidence that belies dire warnings by the Chinese government and prominent Hong Kong business leaders that the student-led demands for free elections would spell disaster for the city’s economy and international reputation. Three busy city locations have been blockaded by protesters, snarling traffic and disrupting local commerce.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index has shrugged off the protests, closing little changed on Oct. 31 and up 1 percent since the last trading day before the protests began. Tourist arrivals were up 11.4 percent year-on-year from Sept. 29 to Oct. 16 and property sales remain strong.

An October report by real estate services company Savills Plc found spending has merely shifted from occupied areas to other locations, including Wharf Holdings Ltd.’s Times Square in Causeway Bay and Cityplaza, a shopping mall owned by Swire Properties Ltd. in Taikoo Shing in Hong Kong Island’s northeast. 

“At the moment, it doesn’t seem as if people are being turned off,” said Simon Smith, head of research at Savills who notes that mainland Chinese tour group arrivals were up 31 percent year on year from Sept. 29 to Oct. 16 period. “Even though protests are focused in core areas and represent an inconvenience, there are still other places that can be visited.”

While large chains can weather the impact of slower sales at a handful of stores, small retailers are feeling the pain. A survey released by the Hong Kong Retail Management Association on Oct. 6 said sales at some small and medium-sized shops plunged during China’s Golden Week at the beginning of October.

Chan Man, general manager of sports equipment store RC Company in Mong Kok, said that while tent sales were up 200 percent in October thanks to protesters camping nearby, overall business is down as much as 15 percent. “Most of our business doesn’t come from the neighborhood and other people are staying away,” he said.

Across Victoria Harbour in Admiralty, it’s business as usual at the 24-hour McDonald’s restaurant. Located directly across from where protesters have erected hundreds of tents, it was temporarily closed on Sept. 29 when supplies were blocked after police attempted to clear streets with tear gas the day before.

Business has been helped by protesters like Justina Wong seeking a daily fix of fast food.

“I go there twice a day,” says the 29-year-old media analyst who has been camping out most nights since protests began on Sept. 26. “It’s Chicken McNuggets at night and hash browns in the morning.”

Just days after the tear gas was fired Sotheby’s set a wine auction record when it sold a 114-bottle lot of Romanee-Conti burgundy for HK$12.6 million ($1.6 million) as well as for Patek Philippe wristwatches and many Asian artists.

So far there isn’t much sign that Hong Kong’s investment climate has suffered either.

“The pro-democracy movement does not appear to have an impact on the overall business climate in Hong Kong and the fundamentals remain strong,” Wendy Werner, practice manager of trade and competitiveness at the World Bank Group, said. “As long as we see transparency, corporate governance in order, a strong legal framework and business-friendly rules and regulations, the investment climate should stay intact.” (Bloomberg)