Tan Yifan

    cicitan2011@gmail.com

    CTF HOKO, the largest shopping mall in the Qianhai-Shekou Pilot Free Trade Area (Qianhai-Shekou FTA) that features a cross-border shopping experience with numerous imported products, restaurants and entertainment facilities, welcomed customers yesterday after finishing its one-year trial operation.

    With the theme of “Quality Life Enthusiasts” and a 10-day special promotion, the shopping mall aims to give mainland customers another option for purchasing imported products and reduce the pressure caused by the influx of mainland visitors to Hong Kong.

    According to the staff of HOKO, since last December the shopping mall has offered free-of-charge shuttle buses for customers from the bus stop outside Exit A of Liyumen Metro Station to the mall and back. It also developed an app called CTFHOKO for online shopping.

    Cheng Kar-chun, chairman of Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group Ltd., said that the shopping mall will continue to bring quality goods to customers at relatively low prices.

    On Dec. 7, 2015, the three-floor Phase I of the shopping mall opened in the Qianhai-Shekou FTA, and 10 months later its five-floor Phase II started to welcome customers. The total investment in the shopping mall reached about 35 million yuan (US$5.08 million).

    Currently, the mall has 13 categories of tenants, including restaurants, daily commodity retailers, jewelry shops, health-care product shops, clothes chains, cosmetics stores, watch shops, parallel car shops, wine stores and more.

    Customers can buy duty-paid products in the physical shops or duty-unpaid ones on the app. Promotions such as “one yuan to buy goods” and lotteries are now available.