When tourists visit Hong Kong, they want to see the famous sites, ride on a ferryboat and take photographs like this one.
When they walk along the city streets, if they notice the narrow alleys that run between the streets, they may see one that looks like this.
(I hope this is garbage day. I also saw that Hong Kong has more graffiti than what I see in Mainland China and I was surprised to see the razor wire.)
What is this? I can see right through this retail store to the street behind it. What's more, pedestrians are walking straight through the store as if this is a public alleyway.
That is because this is a public alleyway.
This photo shows the owner of this store serving a customer. She sells men's ties and women's scarves and clothing. On the right side of the store, her son, who is dressed in black, sells mobile phone accessories and phone plans. He also repairs mobile phones and cuts keys.
I went into the alley to see the store from the other side.
The alley narrows to make room for the store. The store has its display shelves and storage units fixed to the two walls. A small desk and stool is placed along one wall. At night, they roll down steel shutters to protect their stock.
The young man told me that this was an alley store and the government authorizes them. When I said that I never saw an alley store before, he said that alley stores only exist in Hong Kong.
The family hopes to raise enough money to allow them to rent a proper store.
This is a flower shop at 8 Humphrey’s Road, Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. Flowerhin.com has an excellent website that features photos showing all the different kinds of flower arrangements that they offer.
They accept credit cards, allow online sales and offer delivery service. Looking at the website, you would never guess that Flowerhin is an alley store.
You can see a storm drain in the middle of the alley.
The pedestrians make their way through the shop. You can say that alley stores have a lot of walk-in traffic.
Here is an optical shop in a different alley. The display case shows the limited space alley stores have to show their wares.
The entrance to an alley may have vending machines.
A woman in Toronto, who grew-up in Hong Kong, says that these retailers are common there because space is so tight. She had her hair cut in an alley by a stylist who had just a regular chair and a mirror.
Alley stores in Mainland China
Are there any alley stores in Mainland China? Perhaps but I haven’t seen any.
I saw this narrow clothing store when I was in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. This is as close to an alley store I have seen in Mainland China. However, it is not an alley store because it is not in a public alley. The corridor leads into a building.
Some retailers need inexpensive rents and some malls need to make as much money as possible so retailers may be fitted into unusual spaces inside Chinese shopping malls.
In Changchun, when I visited an antique market that was on the third-floor of a shopping mall, I walked in through the main entrance. At first I was confused because I was standing inside a retail store.
The mall’s lobby doubled as a women’s clothing store. To go up to the higher floors, I had to walk past the ladies underwear department. The elevator I needed was located just past the bras.
The down elevator was between the racks of blouses and pants.
In another shopping mall, the corridor leading to the public washrooms was inside of a women’s clothing store. I felt a little strange walking through the store before making a left turn to get to the Men’s Room.
In Nanjing, this man has his electronics shop underneath a staircase in a large electronics shopping mall.
At the Cloud 9 shopping mall in Shanghai, a young man rents space at the ground floor Customer Information Desk for his iPhone repair shop.
So when you visit China, as well as the famous tourist sites, I encourage you to take some time to enjoy the interesting little things you come across. Otherwise you may miss a lot.