Hop Cheong Pens @ Des Voux Road Central

Probably the smallest pen shop in Hong Kong, Hop Cheong is truly a pen shop institution. This tiny shop in Central has been selling pens and lighters for more than 4 decades. It's where in the 1990s, I used to visit at least once a month to buy a copy of Pen World, a bimonthly pen magazine and to pick up the latest limited edition fountain pens from Visconti and Montegrappa.

Hop Cheong’s product range is still focused heavily on what Hong Kongers have always preferred : the luxury brands like Mont Blanc, Cartier, Visconti, ST DuPont, Namiki etc. I didn’t see a lot of Lamy pens - perhaps the most popular pen brand in the world for their affordable, stylish and well made pens- in Hop Cheong’s display windows.

Somehow over the years, Hop Cheong has managed to survive the onslaught of online discount pen shops , the now ubiquitous lifestyle oriented pen shops that sell fashion accessories in addition to pens as well as changing fads amongst collectors.

Changing consumer tastes

Older collectors like yours truly who is a Warga Emas (Malay for retiree) have mostly downsized their pen collections. But it seems pen companies are finding it tough to replenish the ranks of their rapidly greying market (and dwindling numbers of buyers).

You see, many young people who now make up the majority of pen buyers no longer want to pay HKD 2000 to 4000 for their pens. Glitzy smartphones now complete with pens as status symbols for many people.

Compared to the 1990s, I feel pen collectors in 2022 have access to lots of affordable quality pens priced below HKD 2000.  Back in the 1990s when I started out, there were few quality pens below HKD 2000 except for Cross,  Parker and Waterman.

But now Chinese and Taiwanese brands like Majohn, OPUS 88 製筆. 精基  and TWSBI are producing their own innovative designs for pens in all price ranges. I see Chinese companies are now even capable of manufacturing quality pens for luxury brands like ST DuPont.

Post Script

Pen World is now available as a digital subscription at just HKD 55 per copy. In the 1990s, the magazine was printed in glossy paper and cost HKD 100. An annual subscription of HKD 392 now gives access to all the back issues of Pen World. Wowza!

#penworld #hopcheongpens #opus88 #majohn #twsbi