Western Market

A historic building, Western Market in Sheung Wan has been repurposed as a mini shopping centre housing textile and fabric stalls selling bales of cloth for suits, dresses and curtains. Few Hong Kongers probably know how to sew their own clothes these days. So visitors outnumbered the numbers of stallholders when we visited.

There used to be a dim sum restaurant on the upper floor but it has vanished. I remember Western Market had a thriving weekend flea market in the forecourt in the 1990s. Among other bric a brac, the flea market was a favourite place for me to buy New Old Stock fountain pens. My stash of OMAS NOS pens came from Western Market. They included a boxed set of a OMAS Tokyo fountain pen in Persimmon with a 14K nib for HKD 200+,plus a few Ogivas and Paragons. I resold them 20 years later at 3-4 prices what I paid. But I gave away the OMAS Tokyo to my son who I hope still has it. It's now a rare collectors item.