In Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, the mock-classical 1881 Heritage shopping mall once lured queues of mainland Chinese tourists eager to shop at boutiques operated by brands such as Tiffany, Cartier and Chopard. Now it attracts neither crowds nor brands. Only three of the more than 30 units at the mall owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings are occupied, and its colonnaded courtyards are quiet.

On nearby Canton Road, a shop previously rented by Swatch Group’s Omega for about $HK7.5 million ($1.4 million) a month is leased to a bank for 80 per cent less, according to real estate agents familiar with the deal. Over in Causeway Bay’s Russell Street, a Transformers-themed fast-food restaurant has taken the place of Burberry. Its rent is 89 per cent below the $HK8.8 million the British firm was forking out in 2019, the agents said, declining to be identified because the matter is private.

Bloomberg Wealth