Pop-up Mall Traders Want Rent Bills Withdrawn

Some of the retailers who opened shops at a pop-up mall near the Shenzhen border are demanding that their rent bills be cancelled, accusing the operator of going back on its promises.

The Boxes mall, made entirely of cargo containers, was built near Lok Ma Chau to attract mainland shoppers away from North District. But it has not been successful in doing this so far and traders say they were told the operator would help them by not charging rent.

The business owners said a number of them recently received letters from the management company of the mall, asking for rent payments.

The bills sent to some traders are as high as HK$400,000, they said. Some retailers also complained of faulty maintenance of their premises.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who is assisting the businesses, said the management company has failed to boost visitor numbers to the mall and many of the businesses are planning to quit the site. He said some of them have already lost up to a million dollars.

A brainchild of DAB lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong, the Boxes had originally aimed to attract 9,000 visitors every day and 12,000 customers during weekends.

The traders said the mall actually only receives about 100 visitors a day.

Wong criticised some tenants for not opening their doors for business. He said he had arranged visitors to The Boxes, but there were nothing for them to see and shop and so created a vicious cycle.

He said if "decisive action" is not taken, they will "die together".