ParknShop (styled ''PARKnSHOP'', ) is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being
Wellcome
Wellcome () is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its DFI Retail Group subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Park ...
. ParknShop operates more than 300 outlets in Hong Kong,
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
and
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
.
The first ParknShop store opened in
Stanley, Hong Kong
Stanley, or Chek Chue, is a coastal town and a popular tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is located on a peninsula on Hong Kong Island. It is east of Repulse Bay and west of Shek O, adjacent to Chung Hom Kok and Tai Tam. Administratively, it ...
in 1973. For a decade the store remained a local retailer until the mid-1980s when it began to expand outside Hong Kong.
ParknShop is a member of the
A.S. Watson Group, a subsidiary of
CK Hutchison Holdings
CK Hutchison Holdings Limited is a Hong Kong-based and Cayman Islands-registered multinational conglomerate corporation. The company was formed in March 2015 through the merger of Cheung Kong Holdings and its main associate company Hutchison Wh ...
Limited.
Locations
Hong Kong
ParknShop has more than 300 stores and 9,000 employees in Hong Kong. ParknShop opened the first
superstore in Hong Kong in 1996 in
Whampoa Garden
Whampoa Garden () is the largest private housing estate in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was built on the site of the former Whampoa Dockyards by Hutchison Whampoa Property. The urban design of the estate incorporates concepts inspired by t ...
Phase 12 with a floor space of 4,200 m². The first ParknShop
megastore opened in 2002 in Metro City
Tseung Kwan O
Tseung Kwan O New Town is one of the nine new towns in Hong Kong, built mainly on reclaimed land in the northern half of Junk Bay (known as Tseung Kwan O in Chinese/Cantonese language) in southeastern New Territories, after which it is named ...
with a floor space of 6,700 m².
A.S. Watson Group also operates a number of supermarkets under different brand names that target higher-income consumers. There is one
Great
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
supermarket located at
Pacific Place, one
Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...
supermarket at
Leighton Centre (
Causeway Bay
Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. Th ...
), and
Taste
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...
supermarkets at
Festival Walk
Festival Walk is a shopping centre in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong developed jointly by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific between 1993 and 1998. At the time of its opening in November 1998, it was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong. Festiv ...
(
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It ...
),
Citygate
Citygate () is a commercial complex at the town centre of Tung Chung, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It comprises a shopping centre called Citygate Outlets, an office tower, and the Novotel Citygate hotel.
When it first opened for business in 2000, ...
(
Tung Chung
Tung Chung, meaning " eastern stream", is an area on the northwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. One of the most recent new towns, it was formerly a rural fishing village beside Tung Chung Bay, and along the delta and lower courses of ...
),
Stanley Plaza
Stanley, or Chek Chue, is a coastal town and a popular tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is located on a peninsula on Hong Kong Island. It is east of Repulse Bay and west of Shek O, adjacent to Chung Hom Kok and Tai Tam. Administratively, ...
(
Stanley
Stanley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film
* ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy
* ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short
* ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
),
Hopewell Centre (
Wan Chai
Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area n ...
),
East Point City (
Hang Hau,
Tseung Kwan O
Tseung Kwan O New Town is one of the nine new towns in Hong Kong, built mainly on reclaimed land in the northern half of Junk Bay (known as Tseung Kwan O in Chinese/Cantonese language) in southeastern New Territories, after which it is named ...
),
Maritime Square
Maritime Square is a four-storey shopping centre located on Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong. It was built and is owned by MTR Corporation (MTRC) in conjunction with the opening of Tsing Yi station. History
The shopping centre opened on 1 Ap ...
(
Tsing Yi
Tsing Yi, sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of , the island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost al ...
),
Metroplaza
Metroplaza () is a shopping centre and office building developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, officially opened in January 1993. It is located in Kwai Fong, Hong Kong and is opposite to Kwai Fong station of MTR. The mall is a shopping hub of adj ...
(
Kwai Fong
Kwai Fong is an area of Kwai Chung Town, Kwai Tsing District, Hong Kong.
Location
The mainly residential area extends to Kwai Hing () in the north, Lai King in the south, Tsing Yi South Bridge, Tsing Yi Bridge to the west, and Tai Lin Pai ...
,
Kwai Chung
Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town.
In 2000, it had a popula ...
) and
TMTplaza (
Tuen Mun
Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...
). In 2007, another brand, International by ParknShop, was introduced at
Happy Valley,
Hong Lok Yuen
Hong Lok Yuen () is a low-density luxury residential housing estate in Tai Po District, New Territories, Hong Kong, located near Cloudy Hill. It is north of Tai Po Town.
History
Hong Lok Yuen was previously an orchard owned by GeneraLi Fulin I ...
, United Centre at
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
and
Cyberport
Cyberport is a business park in Southern District, Hong Kong consisting of four office buildings, a hotel, and a retail entertainment complex. It describes itself as a digital technology community with over 1,800 (800 on-site and 1,0 ...
which specialises in
organic food
Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...
s.
ParknShop's higher-income stores are billed as a "lifestyle" food stores and stock a large variety of imported goods, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables and many nonfood items. The
upmarket stores were launched in November 2004, when the existing ParknShop store located at
Festival Walk
Festival Walk is a shopping centre in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong developed jointly by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific between 1993 and 1998. At the time of its opening in November 1998, it was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong. Festiv ...
in
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It ...
was rebranded as Taste.
Mainland China
In 1984 ParknShop opened its first
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
store in
Shekou
Shekou () is an area at the southern tip of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. It faces Yuen Long, Hong Kong across the Shenzhen Bay. It has been designated as a Free Trade Zone by the government, alongside Qianhai, Hen ...
, the first foreign retailer to enter the mainland Chinese market. The chain's first mainland superstore opened in 2000 and its first mainland megastore followed in 2001 in the
Tianhe district of
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
. There are now about sixty ParknShop stores in northern and southern China, including locations in Guangzhou,
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
,
Dongguan
Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the ...
and
Zhuhai
Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pear ...
.
History
Labour outsourcing
In April 2005, the ParknShop chain, including the rebranded Taste superstore in Festival Walk, controversially dismissed 525 employees, when the company
outsourced the labour for its fresh foods counter; most of the employees were dismissed just before the
Chinese New Year in 2006. The aggrieved employees included many low-paid workers of longtime service. The employees'
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
complained that although 90% of the dismissed workers were rehired at the same position as before, their wages were lowered (some reportedly by as much as 44%), and their working hours were increased from 10 to 12 hours by the outsourcing
subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract.
Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...
. The resulting average hourly rate was HK$18.
Proposed sale by Hutchison
In 2013, Hutchison invited bids for the entire ParknShop chain, during "a strategic review" of the ParknShop business, for an expected price of US$3 billion to US$4 billion. The company received eight bids, from:
China Resources Vanguard
China Resources Vanguard, doing business as China Resources Vanguard Shop or Vanguard (), operates the supermarket chains of China Resources. It is the third-largest supermarket chain in Hong Kong. As of 31 December 2014, there are 4866 shops o ...
(China / Hong Kong),
Wal-Mart Stores
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
(US),
Aeon (Japan),
Woolworths (Australia) and
Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...
(Australia),
CP Group
The Charoen Pokphand Group Company, Ltd. (CP) (; ) is a Thai conglomerate based in Bangkok. It is Thailand's largest private company and the largest privately held Royal Warrant holder of the Thai Royal Family. The company describes itself as havi ...
(Thailand), and
Sun Art Retail (China).
[Eight bids received for Li Ka-shing's ParknShop]
''South China Morning Post'', 17 August 2013 However, in October the company announced that it would retain ownership of the chain and focus on expanding in China.
RPT-Hutchison drops plan to sell ParknShop supermarkets business
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
. 20 October 2013
Generic products
ParknShop sells products under generic brands, both what it calls "private label" and "Best Buy" branding. Their group of supermarkets also exclusively carries a variety of Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
and Groupe Casino
Casino Group or Casino Guichard-Perrachon is a French mass-market retail group. It was founded on 2 August 1898 by Geoffroy Guichard under the corporate name Guichard-Perrachon & Co.
Casino Group is the source of many innovations such as the f ...
products from the UK and France respectively.
In 2007, Hong Kong supermarket chain ParknShop was fined HK$45,000 ($5,801)for mislabelling oil fish as cod, after a number of customers came down with diarrhoea after eating the fish, said newspaper The Standard. The court said that the fish was unfit for human consumption, and it was mislabelled at source in Indonesia, according to the report.
In 2015, ParknShop allegedly sold a customer rotten egg and later refused to turn them over to the Food and Environment Hygiene Department (FEHD) for examination, Ming Pao Daily reported Wednesday.
In 2017, ParknShop was involved in a Brazilian Meat Food Safety Scandal that brought to light that this meat wasn’t properly inspected and was in fact rotten. As Hong Kong was the second-biggest buyer of Brazilian meat last year, the supermarket chain ParknShop said it had removed all Brazilian pork, beef and chicken from its stores’ shelves in order to clear all suspicions.
In 2017, Europe Egg Scandal happened, where contaminated eggs spread to Hong Kong. It was confirmed that eggs have been tainted with unsafe levels of insecticide. Eggs contained excessive level of Fipronil, a highly toxic pest control chemical banned from the production of food. Shops were asked to remove the products from shelves, and instructed the importer to initiate a recall. This included ParknShop.
In 2017, Candied winter melon covered in mold were found in Guangzhou PARKnSHOP and first reported on April 29.
ParknShop participates in A.S. Watson's customer loyalty program
A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...
, called "MoneyBack" .
See also
* City'super
, stylised in logos as "c!ty'super" (the company name is City Super Limited), is a retail chain in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Positioned as a mega lifestyle specialty store, its core format of upmarket supermarkets sell primarily fresh produce and ...
* Wellcome
Wellcome () is a supermarket chain owned by British conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings via its DFI Retail Group subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being Park ...
Supermarkets
Notes
References
External links
Official site of ParknShop
{{Convenience stores
1973 establishments in Hong Kong
AS Watson
Convenience stores
CK Hutchison Holdings
Retail companies established in 1973
Supermarkets of China
Chinese supermarkets
Supermarkets of Hong Kong
Hong Kong brands