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Mouthing Off | Food le Parc? ParknShop, Hong Kong people are not fools – we’re too savvy for name games
- ParknShop enjoys disguising its brand under multiple identities, but the truth is they are fooling no one, argues Andrew Sun
- Hong Kong shoppers are wise to that old trick, and will always find the freshest produce at the cheapest price
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
I don’t get out to Quarry Bay much, but I was in the district recently, checking out the neighbourhood. In one area, I spotted a supermarket I had never heard of before.
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The shop’s name is Food le Parc, with the name scrawled out in cursive on the wall. It looked interesting, possibly gourmet, but the lime green lettering was vaguely familiar. As I got closer, I had a sense of déjà vu. Then I entered, strolled down a couple of aisles and realised what it was.
A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, Shakespeare wrote. But a ParknShop by any other label is no less boring and ubiquitous no matter how many different monikers Li Ka-shing tries to slap on his grocery stores.
With more than 300 shops across Hong Kong, ParknShop is essentially the Coca-Cola to Wellcome’s Pepsi. The two chains dominate the local supermarket market. However, ParknShop seems to enjoy disguising its saturated presence with multiple identities.
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The brand first started in 1973. Presumably back then, they actually had space in front of their stores for people to park before they began to shop. As it grew in the 1990s, the retail schizophrenia emerged and grew out of control.
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