Kingwah Centre
Kingwah Centre (Chinese: 瓊華中心) is a shopping centre in Mong Kok. Nathan Road, at the junction with Shantung Street [1]. It is called as “Red Spot” (Chinese: 紅點) as there is a red, circle spot outside the building [2]. It is a four-storey building with 60,000 sq ft, with boutiques and purikura booths.
History
Kingwah Centre was founded by a Guangzhou merchant Tan Jienan (譚傑南), who once operated Taotaoju in the capital of Guangdong. It was a restaurant (Kingwah Chinese Restaurant) in 1955, and was a landmark in Mong Kok at that time. During the mid-autumn festival, the exterior was hung with its mooncake advertisement. At that time, it is said that the higher the storey, the higher the customers' social status were [3]. Yet, Kingwah Chinese Restaurant was closed in 1989, and was replaced by the 10th branch of Wing On Department Store. In the late 1990s, there was a large scale closure of department stores. Since them, Kingwah Centre was rebuilt into a shopping centre. Until early 2013, it was announced the shopping arcade will be closed within years. There had been different sayings of Kingwah will be replaced by chain stores.
Reference
- ^ Google Maps
- ^ [http://thehousenews.com/personal/%E6%88%91%E8%88%87%E7%93%8A%E8%8F%AF%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%83%E4%B8%80%E8%B5%B7%E6%88%90%E9%95%B7/ “I Grow with Kingwah Centre”, TheHouseNews
- ^ From MingpaoDaily 12 Feb 2013: Mong Kong becomes MK son