Typhoon fails to dampen spirits as anime fans flood reopened ACGHK exhibition

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Despite the severe weather disruptions caused by the typhoon, thousands of passionate anime and gaming enthusiasts flooded the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday afternoon after the Ani-Com and Games Hong Kong exhibition reopened its doors, prompting organizers to extend operating hours to accommodate the massive queues.

Eager fans endure long waits to secure limited merchandise

The five-day event, now in its third day, resumed operations at 2.40pm after the Hong Kong Observatory downgraded the severe weather warning to the Strong Wind Signal No. 3.

To compensate for the delayed opening, organizers pushed the closing time back by an hour to 10pm.

Reporters at the scene witnessed massive crowds and long lines stretching outside the venue, with some attendees reporting queue times of up to an hour and a half just to gain entry.

One attendee, a father surnamed Wong, brought his two daughters to the venue immediately after the No. 8 signal was canceled, noting that Sunday was the only day their schedules aligned without tutoring classes.

Arriving before the doors opened, he observed that the venue felt significantly more congested than in previous years, attributing the crush to morning ticket holders being pushed into the afternoon slot.

He spent about HK$600 on Hatsune Miku and Dragon Ball figures, with the total budget the day expected to be around HK$1,000.

Another visitor, surnamed Chan, originally scrapped his plans to attend due to the morning storm but rushed over with his friends upon hearing of the afternoon reopening.

Carrying a newly purchased Star Wars helmet, he shared that he planned to spend between HK$3,000 and HK$4,000 on various collectibles and merchandise.

Exhibitors anticipate sales drop despite afternoon surge

While the afternoon turnout was robust, exhibitors remained cautious about the day's overall revenue.

A representative from Saka Saka Limited, a distributor for popular card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, acknowledged that losing over four hours of morning business would inevitably impact their sales.

However, she remained optimistic that the concentrated afternoon foot traffic and the extended evening hours would help recover some of the losses, adding that the booth would roll out special shopping promotions to attract customers in the remaining days of the event.

Smaller independent creators expressed more concern about the compressed schedule.

The author and editor of the locally produced comic Mama the Tortoise explained that while the venue was packed, attendees appeared hurried and intensely focused on securing their primary targets from major exhibitors.

Consequently, visitors were less likely to casually linger and browse at smaller, independent stalls.

The creators projected a potential business drop of 10 to 30 percent, noting that the unpredictable nature of the storm's trajectory over the past few days had left them with very little time to prepare contingency plans.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓