Dennis Lee is a Hong Kong-born, America-licensed architect with years of design experience in the US and China.
Retail is making a comeback in Hong Kong. Deloitte China reported an encouraging HK$203 billion (US$25.9 billion) in sales volume in the first half of 2026, beating expectations. Accordingly, they forecast the retail market to reach HK$412 billion by the end of this year.
A retail revival should directly translate into reduced vacancies for the city’s bricks-and-mortar stores. However, while high street vacancies dropped to 9.1 per cent, the lowest since 2020, vacancies in prime shopping centres rose to a record high of 13.7 per cent, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.
How do we explain these underperforming malls in a robust retail market? The phenomenon is rather disturbing, given that urban life is synonymous with shopping centres and consumer culture in the city.