The Hong Kong Central flagship of locally-based fashion brand Shanghai Tang is to close its doors after 17 years.
(For images, scroll down).
Set in two stories of the historic heritage-listed Pedder Building on Pedder St, the store recreated a 1930s Shanghai feel inside. For years it has wowed fashionistas and retailers alike, stunned by the visual merchandising of the company’s trademark colourful designs, blended with stunning period architecture, an inspiration for designers of all specialties.
Celebrities as diverse as Prince Andrew, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Annie Lennox, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Richard Gere and Nicholas Cage are among its customers.
The South China Morning Post reports the brand has been forced to vacate after its monthly rent on the 6300sqft store was effectively doubled to HK$7 million, or A$917,000. US clothing giant Abercrombie & Fitch has agreed to pay even more than that for the space after what in effect amounted to a bidding war.
Such is the demand for high profile space in the premium shopping precincts of Hong Kong as foreign retailers move into the market en masse. 
“Losing [the original store] at Pedder [Building] was not fun,” Raphael le Masne de Chermont, Shanghai Tang’s executive chairman told the SCMP.
“It was unexpected. But I hope people will realise Shanghai Tang is more than Pedder. We are a brand, not just a store.”
New space has been secured about 350 metres away with a new flagship twice the size scheduled to open in March next year. In the meantime, a newer store will assume the role of Hong Kong flagship, a stunning two storey showcase in a converted historic fire station on the other side of the harbour in Tsim Sha Tsui.
And when the Pedder St store closes, Shanghai Tang plans a pop-up store ,from November 4 to December 31, atop the Central Ferry Pier 4, housed in Mongolian tents, or yurts, to coincide with the brand’s Christmas collection launch, which has a Mongolian theme.
“We hope there will be no typhoons,” deadpanned le Masne de Chermont.
Shanghai Tang’s Pedder St store is across the road from Louis Vuitton and the iconic Harvey Nichols department store, anchor tenants of the luxury IFC Mall in which Apple opened its first Hong Kong store just last month.
With burgeoning numbers of Chinese tourists crossing the border on shopping expeditions and strengthening domestic retail spending, brands are jostling for space al over Hong Kong, driving strong rent inflation.
le Masne de Chermont says it is important for his brand to remain in central.
“If you want to be seen, you have to be in Central,” he told the SCMP. “All those brands from the Western world want to take a piece of the mainland market. Real estate went berserk and we had to adapt.
“We are born and bred in Hong Kong. And we owe a lot to this city.”
Now Swiss-owned, Shanghai Tang has 42 stores internationally, seven of them in Hong Kong.
