Store Review: Topman

Location: Queensway Plaza, Admiralty

Type of goods: casual clothing

Rating: *** (3 out of 5)

14 months after it first arrived in Hong Kong, Topshop opened a second location at Queensway Plaza, which includes the city’s first and only Topman store. To understand how the new stores ended up in Admiralty, a bit of background is in order.

Pacific Place, the crown jewel in Swire's property portfolio, went through a major facelift three years ago. Dickson Poon replaced Seibu with the glitzier Harvey Nichols and Burberry put up a massive two-story Hong Kong flagship. Amidst the retail reshuffle, long-time anchor tenant Lane Crawford drew the short straw and ended up with an eviction notice. Perhaps Swire no longer believed in having two department stores on the same premises, or perhaps lease negotiation with its major competitor Wheelock (owner of Lane Crawford) got a little personal. Whatever the reason was, Lane Crawford needed to find a new home. 

Topman at Queensway Plaza

The fallout prompted the department store to approach Queensway Plaza’s landlord, the government’s Property Agency (政府產業署), to reboot the 64,000 sq ft retail space above the MTR station. It was then Lane Crawford proposed a new retail idea called Lab Concept (not to be confused with the men’s skincare brand Lab Series), positioned to be a younger, more casual version of itself. The new mall opened in spring 2012, filling the sprawling single-story shopping mall with beauty and cosmetics consignment counters and cult brands like American Apparel, Cheap Monday and Free People. But Lab Concept has been a complete dud. It generated very little buzz and never warmed up to local shoppers. Worse still, it was starting to cheapen the venerable Lane Crawford brand.

The location is partly to blame. Whereas most people consider Queensway Plaza a glorified footbridge that connects Pacific Place to the rest of Admiralty, some find the windowless, low-ceiling space dated and depressing. It might even be cursed. From the ill-fated Matsuzakaya department store in the 1980s to the non-descript local arcade run by the government in the two decades since, nothing seems to thrive there. Separated only by a single street, Pacific Place and Queensway Plaza are worlds apart in terms of revenue and cachet. It must be a fengshui thing.

Nothing thrives there

The failed experiment at Queensway Plaza raised a red flag for senior management. Plans to put another Lab Concept at Asia Standard Tower on Queen’s Road Central were scrapped. Instead, Lane Crawford handed the space over to its new retail partner Topshop, Britain’s hugely successful fast fashion chain that had been looking for an entry point in Hong Kong. Topshop finally opened in June 2013 with pomp and circumstance. But the Queen’s Road Central location is small by UK standard. It only carries the women's line and a men’s store would have to wait.

That brings us to Topshop/Topman at Queensway Plaza. Opened this past Wednesday, the twin stores take up a chunk of prime Lab Concept space. It was a strategic decision on Lane Crawford's part to deepen an important cross-border partnership as well as to improve its own bottom line. A smart move notwithstanding, Lane Crawford didn’t go nearly far enough. Instead of giving the stores the proper space they deserve, the mall continues to waste precious real estate on redundant beauty counters (most of them already have more established outposts at the nearby Pacific Place) as well as silly ideas like vending machines for hair products and laundry detergent (which no one ever uses). Sometimes letting go is easier said than done.

A failed lab experiment

Meanwhile, Topshop is making the best of the small area allocated to it. At roughly 2,500 sq ft, the men's store stocks a bit of everything from basic tees and jeans to business suits and dress shoes. Prices there are comparable to Zara’s: long-sleeve shirt at $359, jeans at $399 and blazers between $850 and $1,200. Even though most of the designs look indistinguishable from those of H&M, the quality appears slightly better. With an emphasis on skinny fit and sizes that go down to the 34-inch chest and 28-inch waist, the store will appeal to the petite Asian man. But Topman will always be an afterthought for the British label – it doesn’t come close to the women’s store in terms of colors and designs.

Topshop/Topman is expected to face stiff competition from other casual clothing chains like Uniqlo, Forever 21, Zara, H&M and Cotton On. If the new stores fail to revive the struggling Lab Concept, then Lane Crawford should seriously consider cutting its losses and giving up on the retail experiment altogether. One popular suggestion is converting Queensway Plaza into a large food court, which would not only boost revenue, but also do a major service to the salary men and women in Admiralty who struggle daily to find decent, affordable lunch. A Din Tai Fung or Cheesecake Factory (which is rumored to come to Hong Kong later this year) would make everyone very happy indeed.

Store Review: J. Crew

Location: IFC/On Lan Street, Central

Type of goods: casual clothing

Rating: ** (2 out of 5)

Back in the 80s and 90s, the J. Crew mail order catalog was as ubiquitous as the Sony Discman and beanie babies on college campuses across America. My freshman year roommate used to order button-down shirts and khaki pants over the phone twice a semester. The brand experienced a steady decline in the late 1990s, until CEO Millard Drexler (former chief of Gap Inc.) began to turn the company around in 2003, reinvigorating both the catalog and brick-and-mortar stores with a colorful selection of “luxury basics.” A decade later, J. Crew is once again the brand de rigueur for preppy smart casual and spunky accessories. Among its best known clients are Michelle Obama and her two daughters.

J. Crew's women's store at the IFC

Following in the footsteps of Forever 21, Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap and Victoria’s Secret, J. Crew made landfall in Hong Kong six weeks ago. It was part of its “Hello, World!” campaign to expand outside North America. But it wasn’t the brand’s first foray in Asia. J. Crew entered Japan in 1993 and pulled out in 2008 due to lackluster sales. Its high-profile comeback to the region merely six years after a painful Japanese retreat marks the company's faith in the gargantuan Chinese market and, according to the CEO, there was no better place to start than Hong Kong. It sure made us feel special.

Drexler must have been sticker-shocked when he first heard how much retail space cost here. Shock quickly gave way to disbelief, as he found out not only that his Asian flagship would be one fifth the size of its U.S. counterparts, but that the women’s and the men’s stores would be half a mile apart. So while the girls would be shopping at the glitzy IFC Mall (where McDonald’s used to be), the boys would be looking up On Lan Street on Google Map and wandering up and down Lan Kwai Fong trying to find it. But the CEO was in such a hurry to return to Asia that he pressed ahead anyway, because he believes fortune always favors the bold.

Let's play "Spot the Men's Store"

Although small by any standard, the 3,200 sq. ft. women’s store at the IFC Mall stays more or less faithful to the J. Crew shopping experience in the U.S. But the same cannot be said about the men’s. On Lan Street is a horrendous location for a fashion retailer. The back alley is a loading zone for Marks & Spencer, so out of the way that it makes the hard-to-find Duddell Street (where the Shanghai Tang flagship hides) look like Fifth Avenue. The building itself is equally undesirable. The meager 2,100 sq. ft. space is split across three levels, which means each floor is roughly 700 sq. ft. – tinier than most 7-Eleven’s in the city. Many of the items the brand carries are simply not displayed or stocked. All that has made shopping at the men’s store a rather lonely experience: the outpost is largely empty even during the busy lunch hour and on weekends.

Then there is the price point. A pair of women’s shoes costs over HK$3,200 (US$400) and a regular men’s cotton shirt costs HK$780 (US$100). To those who aren't familiar with J. Crew, their natural curiosity will lure them into the store but the price tags will chase them right out, for their money is better spent on fancier European labels. To those who are loyal to the brand, on the other hand, they can save 30% simply by ordering from the U.S. website or, in my case, raid the sale rack on my next trip to the U.S. I have roughly 15 J. Crew gingham shirts in my closet, all purchased on sale and each cost less than HK$200 (US$25). Despite the repeated charm offensives in Hong Kong (beautiful models were handing out free chocolates and cookies at the IFC Mall), it will take a lot more than freebies to win over value-conscious shoppers here. In fact, I have yet to see someone carrying a J. Crew shopping bag in Central.

One of J Crew's charm offensives

No amount of rave reviews by fashion bloggers and lifestyle reporters can mask the fact that J. Crew has botched its Hong Kong entry. Had the brand done more market research or waited for a more suitable retail space, it could have been a better contender in, and a more welcome addition to, the already over-crowded leisurewear sector. Instead, it rushed into the new market and planted a flag on the first empty space it saw. Drexler may have been too ambitious and impatient for his own good. But perhaps the rush to go global has less to do with the CEO’s own personal ambition than his shareholders’ wish to make the company more attractive to private equity investors. Rumors have been swirling about an IPO later this year. That explains why Drexler has gone out of his way to blab about opening six more stores in Hong Kong and hinted not so subtly that Shanghai and Sydney are next on the agenda. In the end, J. Crew's decision to come to Hong Kong boils down to the simple reality that the company needs a growth story for Wall Street. Suddenly, we don’t feel so special any more.

Let me summarize my strategy in three words:
Growth, growth and growth

Retail Review: The Forum

Location: Exchange Square, Central

Rating: * (1 out of 5)

Hongkong Land is the biggest landlord in Central, owning more Grade A office space in the financial district than any other property giants in the city. In 2011, the company decided to redevelop the Forum, a low-rise shopping center wedged between the three Exchange Square towers. In a matter of weeks, the entire structure came down like the Wall of Jericho, along with the six restaurants, two coffee shops and a Wellcome supermarket inside.

The Forum at Exchange Square

Three years of constant jack hammering and pile driving later, the Forum finally reopened today. The new five-storey glass-encased structure looks like a cross between the Louvre Pyramid and Darth Vader's mouthpiece. But hold your horses, my fellow desk jockeys, there is nothing in it for you. The building now houses Standard Chartered's wealth management centre and not a thing more. There is a tiny concession stand in the corner but it only serves Standard Chartered employees, I was told, and accepts only prepaid staff cards.

Hongkong Land's decision to kick out every tenant useful to office workers and replace them with a glorified airport lounge for the rich verges on the unconscionable. While property companies are here to make money (we of all people understand that), the complete disregard for the needs of salary men and women who struggle daily to find affordable food in Central is what makes the new Forum so infuriating and, sadly, so very Hong Kong.

The old Forum, with actual shops

Retail Review: Subconscious Day Spa

Type of goods: spa treatments

Location: Fumin Road, Shanghai

Rating: ***** (5 out of 5)

Tucked away on the tree-lined Fumin Road is an urban sanctuary offering a respite from the humdrums of Shanghai. Operating since 2010, Subconscious Day Spa has been written up in magazines and now boasts three locations across the city.

Subconscious Day Spa on Fumin Road

The spa is popular among both locals and expats and for good reason. It is a well-run resort with a friendly reception staff and a team of professionals trained in Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Swedish techniques. It is also a one stop shop that offers facials, manicures and yoga classes. More importantly, its tasteful, minimalist design and no-funny-business policy set it apart from the city's hole-in-the-wall foot massage parlors and the many seedy establishments that give their patrons more than a rubdown. 

Tasteful room that appeals to all senses

Treatments at Subconscious are not cheap by Shanghai standard but you get what you pay for. A 90-minute massage will set you back around RMB400 (HK$520), which is still more affordable than any hotel spa in the city. There is no service charge and gratuities are optional but welcome. The spa is open daily from 10 a.m. through midnight, which gives you plenty of latitude to work your day around a visit.

I make an appointment – sometimes more than one – at the Fumin Road main branch each time I find myself in Shanghai for pleasure or for work. Especially for work. The level of cleanliness and customer service I get there is rare in China, even in a big city like Shanghai. Another big draw is its location in Jing’an District. After a treatment, I like to explore the quaint cafés and local boutiques in the neighborhood. The spa is also only a few blocks from Jing’an Park to the north and a 15-minute leisurely walk from the historical French Concession to the south.

Unstated storefront

Store Review: Éric Kayser

Type of goods: bread and pastry

Location: Caine Road, Midlevels

Rating: 4 out of 5

Unlike wine, cheese and chocolate, artisan bread cannot be imported and must be baked on site daily. As a result, good French bread is hard to come by in Hong Kong. Those chewy baguettes, boules and batards with crisp crust and large air pockets have long been a "holey" grail for bread lovers in this part of the world. Until recently, if you were looking for authentic baked goods, you would have to go to Robuchon at the Landmark or visit one of the small boutique bakeries in Sheung Wan.

Eric Kayser on Caine Road

Celebrity baker and entrepreneur Éric Kayser saw the market gap and decided to fill it with his namesake boulangeries in Happy Valley and TST (Harbour City). Less than three weeks ago, he opened a third location on Caine Road, beneath the upscale residential building Gramercy. Despite widespread carbophobia in the city and beyond, Kayser has ambitious plans for Hong Kong. He is looking to put up another 10 to 12 new stores over the next three years in middle class neighborhoods like Wanchai, Fortress Hill, Kowloon Tong and Shatin.

A fourth generation baker, Éric Kayser was the boy wonder who became a compagnons du Tour de France at age 19 and opened his first bakery in Paris at age 32. His mission was to preserve the charm of an old-fashioned Parisian boulangerie in an era of industrialization and automation. Today, he owns over 100 bakeries around the world, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Maison Kayser prides itself on making baked products sans artificial flavoring, coloring or preservatives. Key ingredients like flour and yeast are sourced directly from France and New Zealand. 

The master baker

The best times to visit Maison Kayser are in the morning and during lunch time when baked goods – both savory and sweet – are fresh out of the oven. Despite the gourmet quality, prices are reasonable (baguette for $24) and comparable to what you will pay at mainstream bakeries like the ones at City Super and 360. Must-tries include curcuma bread with saffron, chocolate croissant and an eclectic selection of specialty cookies. For me, it is the simple goodness of a no frills baguette that hits the spot. It is essential to any homemade sandwich.

P.S. Opened a year ago, the Harbour City flagship also features a full scale restaurant that serves traditional French fare. Unlike the Kayser bakeries that have won over both fans and critics, the restaurant has received rather mixed reviews. 

We love them holes!

Store Recommendation: Bookazine, Exchange Square

Location: One Exchange Square, Central

Type of goods: books

There used to be two types of bookstores in Hong Kong: Anglophone booksellers like Dymocks and Kelly & Walsh, and Chinese language ones run by local publishing houses, such as Commercial Press and Joint Publishing. Then came the behemoths. Relatively recently, Singapore’s Page One and Taiwan’s Eslite entered the already crowded book market with megastores that can rival a public library in terms of space and holdings. 

Despite their differences in focus and size, however, bookstores in Hong Kong are united in the common issues they face. The biggest challenge is of course retail space. Not only do they have to sell enough books to pay for astronomical rents, they also need to justify their existence to mall operators who are eager to make room for another watch and jewelry shop. The early adoption of e-books in Asia has put still another nail in the bricks-and-mortar coffin. But when God closes a door, it is often said, He opens a window. The influx of Mainland Chinese tourists in search of politically sensitive publications and the determination of local parents to make their children read – even if they themselves don’t – have provided the proverbial raindrop in the drought.

Bookazine at Exchange Square One

It is in this context that I recommend Bookazine and its new store at Exchange Square. Bookazine is an independent bookseller that works hard to beat the odds in a tough operating environment. It was founded nearly 30 years ago by the late Mohan Mirchandani, an Indian immigrant who came to Hong Kong in the 1970s with nothing but moxie and a leap of faith. Today, the business is managed by his daughters Shonee and Arti, who intend to keep it all in the family. Unlike its closest competitor Dymocks, Bookazine is not a franchise. Each of its six locations – four in Central and one in each of Wanchai and Discovery Bay – are owned and operated by the Mirchandanis themselves. The sister act, together with an all-Filipina staff, gives Bookazine a personal touch with a slight bend toward the female demographic. 

The Mirchandanis are book-lovers. Apart from being avid readers themselves, Shonee and Arti run regular “teach-in” sessions to keep their staff abreast of new releases and bestsellers. The hope is to turn every frontline clerk into a “book concierge” who is able to not only handle customer’s inquires, but also offer educated recommendations. The sisters also don’t believe in wrapping books in plastic, a common practice in Hong Kong to discourage browsing. Shonee puts it best: “We want our customers to flip through our books, smell the paper and develop a relationship with them. And if there is wear-and-tear, that's just the cost of running a business and we can live with that.”  

Sister Act: Shonee and Arti Mirchandani

When Kelly & Walsh left Exchange Square One earlier this year, the landlord invited Bookazine to take up the space. The new branch opened two weeks ago and breathes a breath of fresh air to the otherwise stodgy office building environment. It is not a big shopping mall store like their main branch at Prince's Building, but rather a "corner store" of sorts to provide convenience to time-pressed office workers upstairs. That explains the store's emphasis on magazines and business titles, as well as its opening hours: 8:30am to 7:30pm during the week, half-day on Saturdays and closed Sundays and public holidays.

Consistent with Bookazine’s business model, the Exchange Square branch caters to young parents and their little ones. With children books now accounting for nearly 40% of Bookazine’s revenue, the new store devotes significant floor space to activity books, pop-up books and fiction for children of all ages. There is also an abundance of candies, party supplies, greeting cards and cookbooks.

When asked where their next store will be, the Mirchandanis say they do not know. What they do know is that they would like to one day open a flagship that provides the full bookstore experience, where shoppers can hang out, read to their children and sip latte while flipping through magazines. “That's a very long term goal,” Shonee admits, conscious of the challenge of finding the right space in Hong Kong. But if there is anything her father Mohan had taught her, it is that moxie and a leap of faith can go a long way in this city. 

The store is family-friendly

Store Review: Uniqlo's New Flagship

Location: Lee Theatre Plaza

Type of goods: casual clothing

Rating: ***** (5 out of 5)

The Uniqlo flagship in Causeway Bay underwent a major facelift and reopened a few weeks ago. The idea was to bring the look and feel in line with that of other "global flagship" stores around the world. Reviewing Uniqlo, now a household name in Hong Kong, seems like a silly proposition. After all, the Japanese retailer has been here for nearly a decade and everyone under the age of 60 owns at least a dozen pieces of Uniqlo clothing. But the recent arrivals of Abercrombie & Fitch, GAP, Forever 21 and now Victoria’s Secret and Topshop have given me the impetus to tell the story of one of the most successful clothing labels in history. And the story started right here in Hong Kong.

Uniqlo in Causeway Bay

It was the year 1985. Japanese businessman Tadashi Yanai traveled to Hong Kong and stumbled into Giordano, a home-grown clothing chain created by entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英). Yanai was impressed by not only the quality of Giordano's locally-designed, Chinese-made clothes, but also its popularity among Hong Kongers and tourists alike. The inspired visitor then scheduled meetings with Lai in Hong Kong, visited factories in Guangdong and returned to Tokyo with a grand plan. He gave his company Unique Clothing Warehouse – later shortened to Uniqlo –  a complete makeover based on lessons from Giordano. Ever the voracious learner, Yanai took notes from yet another label, GAP, and integrated the design and manufacturing processes instead of leaving them to wholesalers. The “Lost Decade” of economic stagnation in Japan, combined with the availability of the cheap labor in China, allowed Uniqlo to grow domestically in the 1990s and to expand globally in the new millennium. Today, the label operates more than 1,200 stores and hires over 30,000 employees worldwide.

Uniqlo’s rise to retail stardom has made it a frequent subject for research papers and business school cases. Academics, consultants and retail writers debate over its business model, management philosophy and marketing strategies, while acronyms like SPA (specialty store retailer of private label apparel) and JIT (just-in-time) are tossed around like confetti. Despite all the B-school mumbo-jumbo, Uniqlo’s success comes down to one simple fact: no matter how often you go, you always walk out of the store with a purchase. It is its wearability, affordability, rainbow color choices and pitch perfect quality control that have won our hearts. 

Founder and Japan's richest man Tadashi Yanai

The new flagship at Lee Theatre Plaza has become the latest landmark in Causeway Bay, pulling shoppers away from Hysan Place and dealing a further blow to the tired old Times Square. Spanning 37,000 square feet over three floors, the new store has gobbled up spaces once occupied by Esprit and California Fitness. The sprawling space is like a theme park, complete with floating mannequins and a future-ready T-shirt section called "UT." Displayed like prized paintings in an art museum and sold in plastic tubes, UTs feature characters from Disney, Star Wars and Hello Kitty, as well as corporate logos of Coca Cola, Kewpie Mayonnaise and Ladurée. Best of all, they only cost HK$79 a pop.

Uniqlo is conspicuously absent in Central, which is a major inconvenience for Hong Kong Islanders who have to travel to Causeway Bay or, God forbid, Taikoo to shop. When I first heard that H&M is getting kicked out of its Queen’s Road Central location because of an exorbitant rent increase, I kept my fingers crossed that Uniqlo would snatch up the space before someone else did. But someone else DID! The store manager at H&M told me that Zara already signed the lease and was scheduled to move in at the end of summer. That means “Uniqlones” like myself will just have to wait.

Size does matter: Uniqlo's Herald Square flagship in New York City