Hong Kong’s main shopping district is gaining on New York’s Fifth Avenue for the title of world’s most expensive retail zone as rents rise 35 percent a year, pushing chains such as H&M out to the cheaper suburbs.
Swedish fashion chain Hennes & Mauritz’s first store in Asia was a 30,000 square foot flagship in Central, the heart of Hong Kong. But with the lease up for renewal and the rent set to double, the world’s second-largest clothing retailer will close the location next year and seek new store space elsewhere.
Average annual rent along Queen’s Road Central – where H&M’s flagship store is located – soared to USD1,831 per sq ft in March, up 35 percent from a year earlier, data from real estate brokerage Colliers International showed.
To view the full article (note: you must be an scmp.com subscriber), visit scmp.com. (From seven days after publication, this article will appear in Archive Search.)
(Source: scmp.com)