Coldplay fans queued for two hours for exclusive merchandise at a pop-up store on Monday, a day before the famous British rock band’s first concert at the Kai Tak Stadium.
A long queue formed outside the pop-up store at the AIRSIDE shopping mall in Kai Tak, with crowd control measures implemented inside the store as it can only accommodate 15 to 20 customers.
One of the store staff, Mr Chan, said they have prepared air-conditioned break rooms for queuing fans, while staffers will also update the queue of their stock and which item has been sold out.
“Apart from posters and caps, we are also selling exclusive t-shirts for the Hong Kong concerts, which is the most popular among all merchandise. We have restocked quite a number of them but they are just too popular and were immediately sold up on Sunday,” Chan said.
Eden, who has been a fan since a secondary school student, said he started to queue outside the pop-up store at 3pm yesterday, and had to wait for around two hours before he could get in.
“I spent around HK$200, and I came here for the CDs, and I found the t-shirts looking very nice after seeing them in person, especially the exclusive version for Hong Kong,” Eden said.
“The choices of t-shirts were in abundance, but it is a pity that the exclusive version was in shortage. But this is something that no one can expect, I think the store has already done sufficient preparation,” he added.
He also hopes that Kai Tak can put their best foot forward in ensuring the audio quality in order to leave a good impression for the rock band.
In a statement, Kai Tak Sports Park said it “warmly welcomes” Coldplay’s arrival to Hong Kong, saying that it has been maintaining close communication with the event organizer, the government and relevant stakeholders.
It reminded participants to pick up physical tickets ahead of time before heading to the sports park, check entry arrangements, and allow ample time for entry and looking into special transportation arrangements.
It also reminded the audience to plan arrival and departure transportation in advance.
The sports park’s CEO John Sharkey said: “We are thrilled to host Coldplay at Kai Tak Sports Park, which underscores our commitment to bringing world-class entertainment events to Hong Kong.”
“This concert marks a major milestone for the venue, and we look forward to hosting more international sports and entertainment spectacles, boosting Hong Kong’s sports and entertainment economy and reinforcing its status as Asia’s events capital,” he added.
(Ayra Wang and Jamie Liu)
