Sun Hung Kai Properties, Sino Land invest in malls, luring shoppers with upgrades for pet lovers, kids, and NFT fans
- New Town Plaza in Sha Tin and Tmtplaza in Tuen Mun aim to give consumers who are now accustomed to e-commerce new reasons to visit
- Hong Kong retail sales have rebounded from the Covid-19 outbreak earlier in the year, but malls continue to struggle without tourist dollars
Some of Hong Kong’s largest developers are looking to pets, teens, kids and aficionados of digital avatars to lure people back to shopping malls as Hong Kong emerges from its worst phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) is investing HK$300 million (US$38 million) to renovate its New Town Plaza in Sha Tin, adding 80,000 square feet of entertainment zones tailored for pet lovers, teens and kids. Sino Land’s Tmtplaza in Tuen Mun, meanwhile, is banking on luring fashion fans with NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and the prospect of dressing up digital avatars.
The moves come as the government distributes its second batch of HK$5,000 consumption vouchers aimed at boosting consumption following the city’s worst Covid-19 wave earlier in the year.
The upgrades at SHKP’s New Town Plaza include a 60,000 sq ft Play Park on the mall’s lower level, plus a 20,000 sq ft outdoor area spanning two levels, which will include Instagram-ready areas aimed at delighting pets and teens.
The mall’s Pets Park opened last Thursday, while a pet- friendly restaurant will open in the third quarter. In 2019, around 11 per cent of 2.4 million households in Hong Kong owned a cat or a dog. The total pet population exceeded 1.2 million, including smaller animals.
