Now we sort out the kids! There is so much to cram in, I decided to post this blog into 2 parts. Enjoy!
Depending on the time of the year you come here, this is usually Toy Street with some shops selling stationery at very low prices. If you come during Chinese/Lunar New Year then it becomes Decoration Street. I made a mistake of coming here to buy some stationery just before Chinese/Lunar New Year, I turned up and there were hardly any stationery in sight. Decorations adorned the streets, even on the main road itself! I must warn you, you better have time allocated for this place. You might not want to buy anything but you can’t resist just going into each shop to have a look around. I have risks life and limb to take some of these photos. A lot of places in Hong Kong, you are not allowed to take photos. Even if it is outside the shop or even in supermarkets!
Outside the shops are usually hanging full of inflatables, lanterns, and other bulkier items. Inside the shop is packed from floor to ceiling with toys, gifts, stationery, and anything a child would want to get their hands on. Sometimes it’s hard to walk inside with a big shopping bag without knocking into things. Imagining coming here with a 2 year old! It is hard to leave without buying something.
The basic toys like balls, plastic fruit & veg, bucket & spade and stuffed cuddly toys are always around but if you are after lego, nano blocks, and anything toy related that is the current trend, then you are bound to find it here. You will get HelloKitty, Rilakkuma, Gudetama and other trendy asian products but if you are lucky you might find some Peppa Pig, My Little Pony, Disney products like Cars. I sometimes doubt these are genuine or even pass european health standards to be honest but it’s there for your to inspect and decide for yourself.
Depending what the current toy trends are, you probably find it here. Don’t expect to see any high end quality Anime figurines. You are more likely to find some counterfeit, copied products or renamed toys. To be honest it is quite amusing to see what names they have come up with. I have seen Star Wart, Star Plan and that’s just the start!
Speaking of copies, I have come across a stall a few blocks away that sell very good copies of Transformer merchandise. I wouldn’t exactly say copies because they are actually better than then genuine Hasbro products itself. The products are labelled under a Chinese name so that they don’t get into trouble with copyright issues. Also the Transformers don’t come with official stitchers/badges. Sold separately. I have seen these action figures on Youtube, and a lot of toy fans in the US have purchased these to compare with the genuine toy. Totally blow the genuine out of the water! Even better still, the price these people are paying in the US is ridiculous. Like 3 times the price! I have seen these in real and the quality and design is very good.
Here are a few random stuff I have found on Toy Street. Bottles for crafting, Lucky cats, genuine stationery products (genuine are usually kept under lock and key) to unofficial Minion motorcycles for kids!
More toys! So much, I sometimes get a headache just looking!
You will be pleasantly surprised at how cheap a lot of the stationery and toys are. I could spend ages here looking at stationery. I notice a lot of the stationery is found sold on eBay. I couldn’t get any of those pictures since we were not allowed to take photos.
During September is Mid Autumn Festival, the whole street is lined with lanterns in all sorts of designs, shapes, sizes and budgets to meet everyone’s needs.
During Chinese/Lunar New Year Time
Venturing out to SSP just before the Lunar New Year Celebration is actually worth while. My first time coming here was in early 2017. I was hoping to buy some stationery but to my surprise the whole street was totally transformed. There were no stationery insight! The whole street was decorated in red. All I could see were red lanterns and wall hangings adorning the street. We manage to see a photoshoot on the day we came out but not sure if these were celebrities or just models.
TO BE CONTINUED…………………………………..
I hope you have enjoyed this blog. There are so many pictures I like to share but I will be making this blog too long and slow down loading time. Look out for part 2 of this blog where I will be covering the Dragon Centre, which is around 15 minutes walk from Toy Street.
Shan x
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