Investment Gold Retailers Move Into Vacant Hong Kong High-street Shops On Metal’s Rise

The surge in gold prices has brought a wave of new investment-focused bullion retailers to Hong Kong’s prime shopping areas, adding a distinct segment alongside traditional jewellery merchants.

These retailers – which sell gold coins and bars, rather than ornamental pieces – have taken up ground-floor store spaces that were left vacant during the city’s post-pandemic recovery.

Their rapid expansion has been followed by the return of high-end jewellery vendors, a development that has helped stabilise rents in some of the city’s most expensive districts.

San Gold Coins, a mainland Chinese bullion retailer with about 100 stores across its home market, has expanded quickly in Hong Kong over the past 18 months. It opened three street-level stores in Central, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui, and planned to add up to three more shops this year.

“We see overwhelming demand for investment gold coins and bars, that’s why we decided to ramp up [store expansion],” said Sophia Chen, the retailer’s sixth-generation heir and general manager overseeing overseas business.

While jewellery merchants are common in both Hong Kong and mainland China, investment gold retailers like San Gold Coins remained relatively rare, she said.

Traditionally, bullion dealers operated from office towers and served professional investors. The shift to high-street shops is intended to draw first-time buyers and younger savers looking to allocate part of their portfolios to physical gold.

Sophia Chen, the sixth-generation heir of San Gold Coins and general manager of its overseas business, stands in front of the retailer’s flagship store in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Peggy Ye

Chen said having street-level presence was central to the company’s growth plan.

“Previously, people who bought gold coins were expert clients. They could search online and go up to the 27th floor of a building,” Chen said. “But our strategy is to attract people outside the original circle. We want people walking by to come in.”

The international retail arm of Nanjing-based Yong Yin Holdings Group, San Gold Coins specialises in standardised bullion products, priced close to the international gold rate. It sources directly from official mints and adds a small premium above gold’s spot rate.

“Our profit margin is very low because everything is transparent,” Chen said.

About half of the company’s Hong Kong customers are locals, including young professionals and hedge fund managers.

While banks may offer competitive pricing, buy-backs often come with account requirements and restrictions on eligible products, Chen said.

As a specialised trading house, San Gold Coins provides immediate buy-backs with fewer conditions, even for products not originally bought from its stores.

Other players are making similar moves. First Gold 3.0 Jewellery, a Hong Kong-licensed gold refiner with more than three decades of wholesale history, opened its first flagship retail store in Wan Chai in December after previously operating mainly from offices.

“We have recognised the evolution of the retail market and customers’ needs, that’s why we decided to expand into the retail business,” a spokesman said. First Gold 3.0 Jewellery plans to open new stores in other districts this year.

The interior of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group’s new Hong Kong flagship store in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Reuters

Meanwhile, official data showed that the broader jewellery segment was stabilising. Sales in the jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts category have rebounded since mid-2025, with September sales rising 9.1 per cent year on year, outperforming the overall retail market.

After bottoming out at 348 shops in early 2022, the number of jewellery and valuable gift stores in Hong Kong’s four core districts has recovered to reach up to 358 stores in the past two years, according to Midland Realty.

The recovery extended beyond investment-focused retailers. Beijing-based Laopu Gold, for example, has expanded in Hong Kong with new stores in major shopping centres as part of its overseas push. It also plans to open new stores in the city’s core districts this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Other established gold jewellery merchants have also set up new flagship locations. Chow Tai Fook recently leased a roughly 10,000 sq ft ground-floor store on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui for about HK$2 million a month, one of the highest large-shop rents recorded in the district in the past two years.

“The surge in new openings by both emerging and established gold shop brands reflects a clear trend: demand for gold retail is getting stronger, and prime locations have become a key battleground for market share,” said Fiona Ngan, head of occupier services at Colliers.

Consultancy Deloitte expected the jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts category to rise 19 per cent, supporting the business sentiment for bullion retailers to continue their expansion in the city.

While high-street rents remain about 40 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, vacancy rates in the city’s four core districts have fallen sharply from pandemic highs to 6.6 per cent in 2025. Colliers projected rents to rise 5 per cent this year after a modest gain in 2025.

With rents still below their peak, prime space has become viable again for bullion traders.

“Two years ago, I could not have afforded to rent this place,” Chen said of San Gold Coins’ store on Park Lane Shopper’s Boulevard in Tsim Sha Tsui. “I think it’s just a test on how efficient we are at the same time.”

Additional reporting by Cheryl Arcibal