Delay No Mall partially open!

The new Delay No Mall managed by Hong Kong retailer G.O.D. opened its doors to shoppers late last week. It seems like the place is opening in stages, which is essential, since the week before Christmas is high shopping season. By bringing together an interesting portfolio of brands, some found nowhere else in the city, Delay No Mall is looking to become a new shopping destination in store-saturated Causeway Bay.

My main mission for this trip was to have a look at the second collaboration between Kapok and the clothing company Hooked. The two teamed up last year to create a series of t-shirts by international designers and they decided to repeat the project again. The result is ten different designs from around the region.

Kapok is the type of interesting shop that you would expect to find nestled in an alley somewhere in Soho, (except that rents are currently way over-priced for small stores with big personality to survive.) The Delay No Mall location of Kapok is a branch of the parent store on Dragon Road in Tin Hau which sells a diverse range of products from French underground CDs to high-end jewelry, designer candles, hand made t-shirts, and art books. I bumped into Simon, a member of Uptown Rockers also browsing the merchandise while I was there.

The Delay No Mall currently occupies the first two floors of the building. Kapok was located upstairs which also housed several other small shops in addition to G.O.D. branded merchandise.

The mall offers easy browsing between brands. While the shops occupy different nooks and coves, the offerings are not delineated by separate storefronts. This style of layout makes it more conducive to browsing and can be found in other contemporary shopping centers.

The ground floor of Delay No Mall featured a mixture of upscale jeans, such as the brand The Year Of, as well as hip jewelry and home furnishings. The home furnishings area contained displays painted by a local artist.

One of the factors that makes the Delay No Mall (and G.O.D.) concept unique is that they have embraced Hong Kong style, instead of providing an anonymous could-be-anywhere-in-the-world shopping experience. (Read more about this in my previous post here.)

Opening December 20th at Delay No Mall is the brand Among Strangers which was launched in Paris in 2006. Stay tuned for more new shops to launch in the next two weeks.