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family currently lives in a tier 1 city 5-10 years ago, hk was still the go-to place for my family if they wanted name brand things, short of coming to the US.

family currently lives in a tier 1 city 5-10 years ago, hk was still the go-to place for my family if they wanted name brand things, short of coming to the US. Now, they come to the US or even Japan if they don't stay in the country. Recently I was in Chengdu (which is not tier 1) and the sheer number of luxury brand stores in the IFS building shocked me. That isn't even counting the surrounding shopping center that also carry similar luxury brands. It certainly at least is on par with hk shopping. Many in the west still view china through the same lens as they did 10 years ago, and that is wildly inaccurate.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
For the luxury brands, it's the same boring LV-style stores repeated in each luxury mall. They are also priced 1.5-2X more than HK because of China's VAT and extra luxury taxes. I lived in china for 10 years, and yes, it was much better 10 years ago, at least the air was much cleaner then. I don't see what that has to do with the current situation though, and westerners who didn't live in china always thought shopping in china was great because they could always get knockoffs at the silk market.