Hong Kong is home to many a specialist market and shopping streets. Whether you’re after birds, gadgets, textiles or sneakers, our city is rightly famous as a shopper’s paradise.
1. Flower Market
Take the flower market in Mong Kok. It's perfect for the green fingered or those who have a date to please, the flower market is filled with exotic flowers, potted plants, and seeds. The choices are endless in this beautiful floral jungle.
2. Pet Street
Here’s one for our four-legged furry friends. Despite being ethically suspect, Mong Kok’s Tung Choi Street is disarmingly charming. Full of precious puppies, kittens, rabbits, goldfish, turtles and frogs, the urge to ‘aww’ in adoration is unstoppable.
3. Sneaker Street
New sneakers don’t always have to be expensive or hard to find. On Fa Yuen Street, also in Mong Kok, if the shoe fits, take it home. With a whole host of shoes from different brands, in various colours and styles, all at an affordable price, you’re bound to find something to fit your fancy. Time to upgrade your kicks.
4. Bird Street
A quiet gem in ever-busy Mong Kok, Yuen Po Street, aka Bird Street, is decorated in the form of a traditional Chinese garden. Admired for its traditional décor and the delightful chirps of its many songbirds, the area is a blissful escape from the surrounding concrete jungle. And don’t miss the nearby Ladies Market. An outdoor bargain paradise selling anything and everything from houseware to hair accessories, it’s the perfect place for thrifty shopaholics.
5. Jade Street
Looking for jewellery, knick- knacks and souvenirs in the form of jade? Head to Jade Street in Yau Ma Tei. With a never-ending range of jewellery pieces from jade pendants and carvings to earrings and bracelets, the affordable prices will knock your socks off.
6. Pottinger Street
Got a fancy dress party coming up? Stuck for what to wear at Halloween? Pottinger Street in Central has got your back with an endless variety of costumes and party needs. There’s a whole host of costumes, masks, wigs, makeup, accessories and other weird and wacky bits. Whatever you need for your costume, we’re willing to bet Pottinger Street has it.
7. Ap Liu Street Flea Market
Fancy a new gadget but don’t want to haemorrhage cash in a high street appliance store? Make your way to Sham Shui Po’s Ap Liu Street and sift through plenty of new and secondhand electronics at budget prices. You may even find a couple of vintage relics if you’re lucky.
8. Ki Lung Street
Packed with rolls of fine textiles and boxes of colourful beads, Ki Lung Street in Sham Shui Po is a paradise for anyone with a flair for fashion design. There, you’ll not only find sewing tools and equipment but also fabrics for about $20 a yard – talk about a steal!
9. Lascar Row
Also referred to as Cat Street, this area of Sheung Wan is filled with a plethora of affordable antiques. There’s Ming Dynasty furniture, Qing Dynasty newspapers, Cultural Revolution propaganda posters and ancient coins, and that’s just for starters. Beware of counterfeits, though, as what you buy isn’t always genuine. Other than that, sharpen your tongue for Lascar Row – plenty of bartering awaits.
10. Ko Shing Street
Ko Shing Street in Sheung Wan is the place to be if you have any ailments that need curing, for it is full of traditional Chinese medicine. The street boasts a wide variety of medicinal goodness, so prep your tastebuds and head on out to get your fix of ancient Chinese remedies formulated by one of the many knowledgeable doctors there.