Deathstar, no. Apple Store? Maybe!
Could the new Hysan Place shopping center be the address of the first official Apple store in Hong Kong? Located at 500 Hennessy Road, just across from Sogo, Hysan Place occupies the former site of Hennessy Centre.
The older complex, which housed the Japanese department store Mitsukoshi, was forty-one stories tall, but lacked a good layout for retail space. Hysan, the leading property developer in Causeway Bay, dismantled the old building, and has rechristened the location Hysan Place.
The new building, which is scheduled to open in 2012, will feature 15 floors of retail space, including a 45,000 square foot DFS store! Word on the street is that the Apple store will be another major tenant.
[photopress:Hysan_place_causeway_bay_DFS_Apple_store.jpg,full,pp_image]Though there was speculation about the official Apple store opening in IFC in Central, a Causeway Bay store has its advantages.
While IFC is a premium location, a shopping mall in Causeway Bay will have much higher foot-traffic throughout the day. Also the wow-factor of being a corner-stone in a new shopping mall will result in an explosion of traffic.
[photopress:apple_store_hong_kong_address_cwb.jpg,full,pp_image]According to Hysan’s press release, there will even be a new MTR exit leading directly into the complex. This is important, as the current nearest location, exit F of the Causeway Bay MTR, is subject to constant pedestrian congestion.
For more information about Hysan Place, go here, here and here.
Hong Kong’s transition from Windows worms into Apple lovers…
For many years Apple users were a tiny minority of the Hong Kong population. Apple products and peripherals were so niche that you felt like part of an underground subculture just going to buy something at the handful of small shops around town. If someone else walked into the store, you would size them up and wonder who they were, and why you didn’t know them already.
Those days are long gone. iPhones and iPads are ubiquitous in consumer electronic-crazed Hong Kong. A simple ride on the MTR will make you feel, well, quite ordinary. A quick look around will confirm that a good percentage of the riders are immersed in their iPhones. (I strongly believe that Hong Kong has more iPhones per capita, than anywhere else in the world.)
The change of Apple from a computer company to a consumer electronics powerhouse has brought the elegance of their products to a much wider audience. But for all the remarkable growth and success that Apple has had in Hong Kong, the city has still lacked an official temple.
Even our neighbors to the North have several official Apple stores now, with plans for a massive expansion. Yet for all our sophistication, we’ve been deprived of the pillar of the Apple community, with no place to camp out for the latest launches.
A Hong Kong Apple store is long overdue, so the unconfirmed rumor of one opening up in Causeway Bay is exciting!
If indeed true, the address will be:
Official Hong Kong Apple Store
Hysan Place
500 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Yes, it’s true. I was told by certain leasing agents the anchor tenants were DFS and Apple. If you think about high-profile Apple stores around the world (New York, San Fran, Beijing Sanlitun) they are all located on the G/F of buildings with their own separate entrances to permit the crazy 24-hour Fanboi queues for the latest iPhone/Pod/Pad. IFC Mall just doesn’t offer a street-side location that can compete with Hysan Place. Plus, IFC Mall retail tenant profile is more focused on Mainlanders buying Omega watches, CWB’s image with locals and tourists is much more inline with Apple’s style.
Edison Chen must be relieved he can finally get his Mac serviced at the real Apple Store now.
Confirmed at IFC.
It is really a very good news for Apple users.
That is a great news! Anyone has a pic of the construction as of today? I wonder when exactly the Apple shop is gonna open…
Apples flagship store at the IFC Mall seems to have the traffic that you say it would benefit from at Hysan Place… in fact its choc a’ block with visitors and it does have an amazing two-story glass facade emblazened with its world famous ‘Apple Motif’ that faces a very busy elevated walk way not to mention an inviting modernistic entrance inside IFC mall…
I think that Hysan Place may see a higher ratio of mainland visitors though… which is good for business in that area.