It was too much of an opportunity for Asia's shopping paradise to miss: the grand opening yesterday of Hong Kong's first branch of a major worldwide clothing chain.
And in their hundreds they came -- many of them teenagers -- queuing for hours to be the first in this fashion-conscious city to get their hands on the colorful garments sold at Swedish chain H&M's debut store in China.
More than 1,000 people gathered outside the downtown shop waiting for the 11am opening.
PHOTO: AFP
Many of them were lured by the promise of a limited number of trench coats personally signed by singer Madonna, one of the chain's celebrity designers, and 500 pairs of sunglasses.
Some had camped out for more than 24 hours.
"I suppose it is a bit crazy, but I love this chain," 22-year-old office worker Sandy Chiu said. "I'm also a big fan of Madonna."
Overnight they had either slept on the pavement or fought to stay awake.
"I ate lots of snacks and played my portable video game all night to keep myself awake," said student Cami Ip, 20, who had begun her long wait at 11am on Friday.
When opening time finally came, the crowds poured into the store to cheers by staff.
As an added incentive, H&M brought forward by two weeks the launch of its M collection, designed by Madonna, in time for the Hong Kong opening.
H&M's flagship store will be the first of four to open in the southern Chinese city this year, said Nils Vinge, head of investor relations.
"We don't usually witness scenes like this at a store opening," he said. "We are very bullish about the Hong Kong retail sector."
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last