Harvey Nichols to exit Hong Kong Landmark store

Hong Kong’s status as one of the top global shopping destinations has slipped badly in recent years, and further evidence of this has come with news that Britain’s Harvey Nichols is set to close a store there.

The luxury fashion-focused department store operator will be vacating its space in the landmark mall in Hong Kong’s Central after almost two decades as spending by both Chinese tourists and local shoppers undermines its viability.

The 60,000 sq ft space has been open since 2005, but Harvey Nichols owner Dickson Concepts will give up its lease in March.

And an estimate in the South China Morning Post suggested the company could be paying as much as US$1.57 million a month for the five-storey space.

Not that Harvey Nichols is exiting Hong Kong altogether as it has a store in another location there, Pacific Place, which opened in 2011.

Dickson Poon, executive chairman of the retailer’s owner, said that Chinese tourists are still visiting Hong Kong but are no longer as shopping-focused as they were previously and weaker than expected spending during the two Golden Week holidays in May and October underlined this.

He said locals are increasingly travelling abroad during festive seasons, and this means there’s no longer a need to operate multiple large department stores relatively close to each other.

The news came as part of Dickson Concepts’ company report that also said the parent company saw revenue rising 26.1% to HK$1 billion (£101m/€117m/US$128m) for the six months to September 30, despite that weak consumer sentiment.

Net profit attributable to equity shareholders rose 41.5% to HK$219.7 million. It said sales in Taiwan rose 8.5% with profits there up 23.4% and sales in China were up 32%.