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Hong Kong Shops Shutter as Months of Protest Darken Economic Gloom

Reuters

   HONG KONG - Hong Kong jeweler Jun Lam has already closed one shop. His
   remaining outlet sits in an almost deserted shopping mall at the heart
   of a district regularly hit by sometimes violent protests that have
   rocked the Chinese-ruled city since June.

   Restaurants, hotels and retail outlets like Lam's, many of which cater
   to mostly mainland Chinese tourists, form a central pillar of a small
   business sector that employs more than one million people in the city.

   But with visitors deterred by months of violence, many firms have
   closed or are struggling to turn a profit.

   "It's only a third of the pedestrian flow compared with the past. On
   some days, almost no shops were open in this mall," Lam said. To stay
   afloat, he has closed his other store in the New Territories district
   of Tseun Wan, the site of some violent demonstrations between
   protesters and police.

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