Back to the future as Central Market reopens

The 82-year-old Central Market reopens for a trial operation today following a HK$500-million rejuvenation program spiced with old and new.

The signature design of an open atrium and Shanghai-style staircase has been kept as it was to accommodate more than 100 new stalls including traditional ones selling rice and a start-up cafe using artificial intelligence for processing coffee beans.

The Grade 3 historic structure also retains its facade facing Jubilee Street and Queen Victoria Street plus 13 old market stalls, which once sold poultry, seafood and vegetables.

About 70 shops open today from 12.30pm to 10pm.

One tenant, 75-year-old rice wholesaler Golden Resources, will showcase the look of rice stalls in the 1950s and 1960s and display vintage account books, gunny sacks and scales.

Two seafood stalls will be used to showcase old looks through virtual reality technology while fittings and features from meat and fish stalls are also exhibited.

The Urban Renewal Authority is also promoting local startups, with 90 percent of stalls rented to local brands.

"The revitalized Central Market is very suitable for local startups that are developing their customer networks," URA managing director Wai Chi-sing said.

Noting some startups' concerns about potentially high rents for a bricks-and-mortar operation in Central district, Wai said stalls in Central Market will adopt a "plug-to-operate" business mode, meaning units will include basic fittings and decoration.

"Chinachem Group will apply for licenses for restaurants, which will greatly reduce the startup cost," he added. The group was awarded a 10-year operation contract by the URA in February.

Chart Coffee, offering coffee-brewing techniques with AI, is one of the local startups.

Founder Wilson Chung is confident about business given the uniqueness, saying: "Not only does the rejuvenated market balance old and new but it also offers opportunities to start a business."

Promoted as a "Playground for All" in Central, the market envisages staging more than 250 events over the next five years, including workshops and exhibitions.

"There are diversified events ranging from cultural, art, education and leisure," URA director of planning and design Wilfred Au Chun-ho said.

Some questioned the addition of steel handrails to the main staircase, worrying the original design will be lost.

But Au said the rails were installed because of safety regulations. And the design was reversible as the rails can be removed without causing damage, he added.

The market opens officially in November. And 20 percent of the market still under construction should be open in the second quarter of next year.

Central Market was handed over to the URA in 2009, and revitalization work began in October 2017.