The world’s most expensive retail rents

As a shopping destination, Hong Kong has over the past decade charted a course towards the very high-end in brands — and it seems retailers are now paying a very expensive price for the trend.
With a 46 percent rise in rents, quarter on quarter, Hong Kong is now second only to New York in terms of what tenants pay for retail locations across the city.
Hong Kong last year surpassed Sydney as the second-most expensive city in the world, with the average cost being paid now hitting US$1,687 per square foot per year according to global commercial property company CB Richard Ellis.

New York still tops the charts with rents at US$1,900 but Hong Kong seems intent on closing the gap as the world’s leading brands continue to set up shop all over town.

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Chinese luxury consumers opt for French products

French labels are the most sought-after luxury products for Chinese shoppers as a booming economy creates a growing legion of newly affluent consumers.
French brands are the top choice for mainland buyers, followed by those from Italy and Hong Kong, consultants KPMG said in their report “Luxury experiences in China”, based on a survey of 1,200 consumers from 24 cities.
“China continues its march towards becoming the largest luxury market in the world,” said Nick Debnam, the firm’s head of consumer markets for Asia Pacific.

“Year-on-year as this market becomes more crowded, it is harder for luxury brands to enter this space. We also see rising brand recognition,” he added.


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Biggest sandstorm - storm to remember

Beijing is caught  after sandstorms that shrouded cities in northern China in an unhealthy cloud of sand and Grit dissipated. The return to normal weather was also good news for South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which had all felt the fallout in recent days from the sandstorms in China. The storms were the latest sign of effects of desertification: air max shoes Overgrazing, deforestation, urban sprawl and drought have expanded Deserts in the country's north and west. The shifting sands have gradually encroached onto worsened Populated areas and sandstorms that strike cities, particularly in the spring.

the sandstorms in China

sandstorm

 the sandstorms

sandstorms

China's Central Meteorological Station Web site said Friday that no large-scale sandstorms were forecast in the north of China, while some southeastern provinces such as Jiangxi and Zhejiang may experience traces of the sandstorms that hit the north in recent days. Skies were also more clear in Taiwan. Its Environmental Protection Administration said Thursday it will take another day for air to clean up completely in the south of the island. Over the past two days, people around Taiwan had worn face masks.

 storm 

Biggest  sandstorm hit Beijing

 Biggest  sandstorm 1

Skyscrapers were enshrouded in dust. Taiwan is 1.600 miles (2.600 kilometers) away from Inner Mongolia where much of the pollution originated. The weekend Sandstorm caused the worst "yellow dust" in South Korea since 2005, and authorities issued a nationwide rare dust advisory. Youngsin Chun, a researcher at the Korea Meteorological Administration, said only mild levels hit South Korea on Tuesday and no advisory had been issued. But remained at severe pollution levels in Hong Kong Tuesday, where the Sandstorm has exacerbated a chronic problem with pollution caused by buses and other vehicles that authorities in the southern Chinese territory have been Reluctant to address. After hitting record levels on Monday, pollution quantities nike air Jordan were expected to ease to merely "high" or "very high" on Wednesday, the government said, according to Hong Kong's RTHK radio. Biggest  sandstorm hit Beijing in 2006, when winds dumped about 300,000 tons of sand on the capital.