Tammy Ho put on a brave face for the farewell photograph. But as the sign on her family’s fabric stall was taken down, she was silent and tearful.
The deep red characters “Shun Cheong Piece Good” were handwritten by Ho’s late father. He was among the first group of fabric sellers in Sham Shui Po’s Yen Chow Street Hawker Bazaar, better known as Pang Jai, when it opened in 1978.
The market prospered during the glory days of Hong Kong’s fabric trade between the 1970s and 1990s but now faces demolition to make way for public housing. On January 31, it opened for business for the last time.
Ho was among the 16 business owners who have opted to reopen at a new venue offered by the authorities. The other 33 have accepted a HK$100,000 ex-gratia payment and will leave.
The stall at Pang Jai was home to Ho, 48, for most of her life. She grew up playing hide-and-seek with other stallholders’ children in the narrow covered and fabric-lined lanes. She and her husband raised their daughter Yuki Wong there. Yuki, now 23, has vivid memories of her childhood bunk bed with decorative lace strips.
As the market’s final closing time approached, the family had taken away most of their valuables. The metal-frame bunk bed and colourful cartoon stickers dating from Yuki’s childhood were about all that was left.
It was an emotional moment for both Ho and Wong. Ho told HKFP they would save the old sign for their new stall elsewhere.
A long-time neighbour gave Ho a hug.
Happy to retire
Uncle Tung’s fabric stall was just next to Ho’s. On the last day, the 90-year-old slashed his prices to rock-bottom.
He told HKFP that “every piece of fabric has a use,” and it would be a waste had his goods ended up in a landfill.
But Uncle Tung was lucky that a buyer from the New Territories was willing to order ten tonnes of fabric from him right before the market’s closure. “They took two mornings to move,” he added.
The stallholder has been in the trade for 75 years. While feeling nostalgic, he said he was happy he can finally retire.
“I am already old. You can’t earn all the money in the world,” he said.
Uncertain future
Ho Chun-fat’s family was among the fabric sellers who chose to relocate to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market and continue their 41-year-old business.
Ho, now 26, has been helping with his parent’s business since he was 16 and still wants to support his father, who is in his sixties.
“He always wants to contribute to Hong Kong’s fabric trade,” the son said, adding that his father loves the grassroots culture and chatting with regular customers.
He told HKFP that the government paid between HK$20,000 and HK$30,000 as a moving allowance for each stall which relocated but the sum was not enough to cover costs.
The new venue offered by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is brighter and more spacious than the old covered market, but farther away from the centre of Sham Shui Po.
At Pang Jai, said Ho Chun-fat, it only cost around HK$4,000 a year to renew their licence while the rent for his new stall is HK$4,000 a month. “I’d be lying if I said I’m not worried.”
Sharing the same worry, Tammy Ho said she felt like she “mistakenly boarded a pirate’s ship” when opting to relocate to the new fabric market, as she now needs to pay six times more for rent.
But at least she has her daughter’s support. Yuki Wong told HKFP she planned to quit her job at a public hospital and bring a fresh breath of life to the family business by setting up an online shopfront.
“I hope I can become the successor in the future,” she added.
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