At Fa Yuen Street, you can simply delve into the shopping atmosphere and enjoy checking out the vast array of market stalls and little shops, right there beside the local Hong Kongers.
Compared to other street markets in Hong Kong, such as Stanley and Temple Street, Fa Yuen Street is bigger, more crowded (be prepared to push and shove), and features constantly-updated local fashion boutiques, masses of accessory stores, as well as toy shops, export shops and little places where you can enjoy a quick local snack.
To get to Fa Yuen Street, take the MTR to Prince Edward Station (no, not Mong Kok) and get out through exit B2. Then cross the road on the left and go through the petrol station, past the street of goldfish shops and a Mannings store, and you’re there.
Standing at the start of Fa Yuen Street is quite daunting; there are so many shops squeezed into every inch of the market (thanks to Hong Kong’s resourcefulness) as well as shopkeepers who advertise their merchandise extremely enthusiastically, possibly resulting in temporary hearing problems. However, it is really worth your time because you’ll find great variety and some of the cheapest stuff in Hong Kong. Generally speaking, the main market area in the middle is all stalls, which sell the seriously-cheap goods, whereas the lanes on either side are where all the local fashion boutiques, export shops, shoe shops and eateries are.
At the front of the market are where some of the more memorable stalls are located, such as the fruit stall, which sells all the standard fruits (oranges, dragon fruits, bananas etc.) and creates beautiful, custom-made fruit baskets upon request. Baskets on their own start at $38 each, and you can pick and choose the fruits you want, as well as ribbons and cellophane.
Its neighbouring stall sells adorable Chinese silk clothing, with especially cute children’s sets.
Opposite is a towel shop selling every sort of towel possible, adorned with Hello Kitty and co, for as cheaply as $10 for 3 flannels.
The export shops in Fa Yuen Street are brilliant, and undoubtedly very popular with HK expats. For the younger crowd, head to the nameless No. 145 Fa Yuen Street export shop, which stocks a lot of Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Tommy Hilfiger and Polo Jeans etc. t-shirts, jackets and sweaters. T-shirts are generally $40-80 each while sweaters are around $150. Girls will be pleased to hear that there are greatly marked-down jeans from Diesel, Miss Sixty and a couple of other brand names that sell for only $150-300 each. The downside is that you can’t try them on and the largest sizes are about 29-30”, so be careful! Other export shops include “Oceann,” (No. 152) which sells export-brand winter jackets, and the slightly higher-end export shop nearby which sells even more designer clothing including Seven jeans, True Religion, as well as Marc Jacobs and MaxMara replicas.
For affordable, quirky clothing, search through the racks of the local boutiques on the sides of Fa Yuen Street, which are filled to the brim with the latest fashions, freshly made in . Be warned: you really do get what you pay for, (so don’t be surprised when threads mysteriously start coming loose from that $20 top) and remember that sizes are actually much smaller than they sound. The shoe shops are definitely cheap; you’ll find trendy flats starting at just $50 and boots for $60, with the biggest sizes being 38-39. Special mention must be given to the huge number of bag stalls, all selling replicas of Harrods bags for around $40, curiously suggesting that a significant percentage of HK ladies carrying the famous green bags probably haven’t been to London at all. Fu Wah Fashion (no. 184) sells a huge range of accessories like scarves, jewellery, belts etc for very affordable prices.
Other notable shops include the wooden products shop at the end of Fa Yuen Street, which sells hand-made ornaments, key-chains, photo frames etc. You can actually order personalised wooden signs with cartoons and writing on them, which cost up to several hundred dollars depending on the size and design.
Also in Fa Yuen Street is a material store, Bo Bo Deco (no. 154) with large cloth rolls guarding the entrance and filling the entire shop, and you can buy material for curtains here. If you’re late in decorating your home in time for Christmas, you can also find cheap Christmas baubles, tinsel and ornaments at No. 214 Fa Yuen Street.
If you’re feeling at all peckish during your shopping endeavours, you simply have to stop at the bakery at No. 192 Fa Yuen Street to try some cheap, freshly-baked local cakes and pastries. There are delicious mini egg-custard tarts or “dahn taht” ($5 for 4), red bean pastries, traditional “wife cakes,” as well as sticky rice cakes packaged mini biscuits and many more, all at just a few dollars each. Or if you’re feeling particularly interested in Hong Kong culture, you can stop at any of the popular snack-booths which sell all the popular local snacks like fish-balls (spicy or non-spicy), siu mai, fried tofu, and even squid skewers, each on a stick costing about $5 each.
All in all, you can expect to spend about 3-4 hours trawling the pavements of Fa Yuen Street so make sure you wear comfy shoes. If you do get bored of shopping for clothes, other interesting things in the area include nearby streets of pet shops and aquarium supply stores. Or, you can walk for a few minutes to New Century Plaza next to Mong Kok KCR station, which has a number of popular restaurants and shops.
