DrRisk,
This is very interesting to read in deed. As a native of Hong Kong, I know exactly the several floors at Windsor that was mentioned in the article. However, I have never seen the kind of boom time and chaotic shopping as described. This location, to me, is more of a "show window" for a lot of the brands and the location is for more up-scale shopping and for the not-so-smart tourists. Most local people would not shop there. There are other computer shopping centers that would appeal to the general public. I was there last week to get a feel of the quietness and I can testify that there are more empty shop spaces for let than any other time I visited this place. The rental is just too high for the shops to survive. The up-market department store Lane Crawford was also closed and instead a Japanese store is there taking up the ground floor - Seibu. I also visited two other centers. To my surprise I could not tell much difference here - heavy traffic and lots of business.
I went to pick up a new gadget - the DVD machine (by Pioneer) that is backward compatible for VCD/VCD 2.0/CD and more importantly, the LD, all in one, direct from Japan, but re-programmed locally for the DVD to "all region" compatible including the US, Japan and other Asia (maily on PAL system). This retailer het me jump the allocation line as I had to leave town in a couple of days. It is a great machine as it has the feature of playing with angles (only available on software made from Japan for now). The "angle play" is to provide mutiple choices on the angle you want to see the scene which was shot with several cameras from different angles at the same time. I am relocating to the US (in the mid-west) this coming spring but on my pre-move trip there, I could not find multi-system stuff that I am so used to in around Asia. I have lived in Hong Kong, Singapore and currently residing in Shanghai. I got the impression that the US still thinks the world lives on one single system (the NTSC) and one voltage (110V) as most electrical shops I went to did not know what I was talking about when I tried to describe how a Multi-system TV set can automatically adjust to any of the 21 systems worldwide and the voltage input of between 100V and 240V without making any manual adjustments.
I also visited Tokyo the week before last and my friends and colleagues there seem to be worried about the current situation and spending has subsided a lot. I am not surprised. Most Asians are fond of saving up, especially when situation is not clear. This is particularly true in countries and regions that have little or no social security programs - that is, when there is trouble, you are on your own. "Save up for the rainy days" is still very much considered a prudent and correct behaviour, as taught by generations.
While I very much appreciate the creation of this thread I don't know how I can contribute to it. However, I would like to point out that to think that Asia is one problem and the problem is similar all over Asia is a very wrong assumption. The culture is very different, even as you travel from south China to the north, let alone the whole continent, and the different fiscal systems in effect in these countries.
Best of luck to all investors in the world having interest in Asia.
RT |
