Sino Centre

Sino Centre on Nathan Road

Sino Centre (Chinese: 信和中心) is a shopping centre at 582-592 Nathan Road in Mong Kok, Hong Kong strongly associated with youth and Asian pop culture. Shops in the centre sell variety of manga, Japanese magazines, records, sports equipment, watches, video games, toys, and other goods favoured by youth since the 1980s.

In the early 1990s, the centre was full of shops selling photographs of pop stars. The number of photographs of each pop star sold was an indicator of their popularity.

In the late 1990s, the shops that sold unlicensed and pornographic CDs and VCDs prospered wildly.

Despite heavy police crackdowns on copyright violation since 2004, it has resurfaced recently, with stores selling infringing Chinese, Japanese, and Korean TV dramas and anime DVDs. These temporary stores open at random times and close down without warning. Many consumers have trouble getting a refund or exchange for these often defective DVDs. Since 2007 the stores also sell fashion commodities that appeal to a younger market.

In the basement there are some second-hand CD shops which are popular with music buffs.^[1]

Transportation

Yau Ma Tei Station Exit A2
Mong Kok Station Exit E2

References

1. South China Morning Post, 17 June 2009.

Coordinates: 22°18′58″N 114°10′12″E / 22.3161°N 114.17°E