SOGO 30th anniversary

SOGO's 30th Anniversary Mascot

SOGO has always been my go to department store every time I return to HK. I love what they sell and their prices are usually quite reasonable.

It literally survived all the economic disasters and competition.

It is currently one of the last remaining Japanese department stores* in Hong Kong. There are 2 stores: 1 in Causeway Bay and 1 in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Sogo from a far

I had the opportunity to go to both stores this time. I was glad the Causeway Bay store was able to remain "a department store" but am sadden by the fact that the Tsim Sha Tsui store has given in and became a tourist store (more specifically, main land China tourist). 

They have moved to a more convenient location and has a very nice looking interior (because it is new), unfortunately, as nice as it looks, it looks nothing like a department store. They have revamped the mall (which used to be in it's current location) and changed it into a store where all you can buy are cosmetics, skin care products, designer purses and some jewelry... When I asked the concierge where the clothing, grocery and lifestyle sections were, the staff told me that there weren't any... I immediately had a look of disappointment on my face so they told me that there "might" be a possibility that these sections/departments will soon be added to the store later. (I sure hope so... I miss their clothing and grocery sections :( )

It's so sad to see one of these older stores change to become something else. It had gone from being a nice traditional department store to a "I want to make lots of money off of Chinese Tourist" store. It hurts to see that more and more Hong Kong stores are taking this approach.

*There is also YUTA, Uny and Apita remaining.