York Lo: The Chan/Tyson Family and Gande, Price & Co The Chan/Tyson family is one of the most prominent Eurasian families in Hong Kong. Family patriarch Chan Kai-ming made his fortune serving as the secretary of the Hong Kong Opium Farm and he acquired the control of Gande Price, which remained one of the leading distributors of liquor in Hong […]
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York Lo: Paramount: Ad Agency and Interior Decorator Although it is largely forgotten today, Paramount Advertising Agency (百樂門廣告) was one of the leading Chinese-owned ad agencies in Hong Kong which was also involved in interior design and neon lights. The firm which counted many Japanese clients and business partners was responsible for interior decorations for major hotels in HK and […]
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York Lo: Kwong Chan Timber Merchants (廣棧木行) Left: Kwong Chan founder Wong Shui-leung; Right: Ad for Kwong Chan Timber Merchants in 1967 (Pun U District Association, 1967) Earlier in the group, we have covered several players in the timber business in HK such as Wong Tong Kee, Wing Tai Cheung and Ng Jim Kai. One of the leading players in […]
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York Lo: Standard, Tai Hing and Tung Shing: Distributors of Japanese Sewing Machines During the post war industrial boom in Hong Kong, sewing machines were a big business as garment factories and many housewives who made extra money acting as contractors bought them in large numbers. While the American sewing machine giant Singer was the 800-pound gorilla in the business, […]
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York Lo: True Gold Fears No Fire: 150 Years of Tse Lee Yuen (謝利源) Founded in Macau in 1867, Tse Lee Yuen (also known as Che Lei Un and Che Lee Yuen and now known as O’Che 1867) is one of the oldest jewelers in Macau which is still going strong under the management of the fourth generation. In the […]
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York Lo: Texwood (德士活) and “Apple Jeans”(蘋果牌牛仔褲) In March 2020, Texwood closed its flagship Apple Jeans store on Argyle Street inMongkok after 35 years, leaving only one store in HK in Diamond Hill although the jeans giant remains a major player in the mainland. Founded in 1959, Texwood was one of the major local brands of jeans in HK along […]
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3rd June 2021 An additional image and information sent in by Dheeraj Khiytani was added. See 1907. HF:Watson’s is possibly the oldest retailer still in existence in Hong Kong and unquestionably among a tiny few that have opererated continuously since the early days of the colony… By 1941 Watson’s was already the largest chemist, retailer of health and beauty products, […]
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York Lo: N. Lazarus (明晶洋行)– Leading Opticians of the Far East Left: N. Lazarus store in Central; Right: ad for N. Lazarus in HK in 1900 (China Mail, 1900-4-10) Eyeglasses is a big business in Hong Kong and one of the first opticians in record in the city was N. Lazarus, started in the late 19th century by oculist-optician of […]
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York Lo: Bargain Electrical Co (平霸電業) and System One (新一系電器) Bargain Electrical Co and System One were two leading electronics retailers in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s respectively that have since faded into history. The former was best remembered for its low prices and catchy TV commercials while the latter was launched by the conglomerate First Pacific and […]
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York Lo: Dragon Seed (龍子行) Left: the original Dragon Seed store on the right at 37 Queen’s Road Central in the early 1950s, A Man Hing Cheong was on the left.Right: Dragon Seed Building in the early 2000s when it was occupied by Yue Hwa (Apple Daily) From its inception in the late 1940s to the 1990s, Dragon Seed Co […]
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