SINCERE (00244.HK) will close its Sheung Wan store by the end of the year. The lease for SINCERE's store located on the ground floor of Li Po Chun Building in Sheung Wan, covering over 12,000 square feet, will expire at the end of this year, but it is reported that it has been pre-leased by other industry merchants for about HKD 800,000 per month.
SINCERE's Sheung Wan store is located at 189 Des Voeux Road Central, ground floor of Li Po Chun Building, with a construction area of approximately 12,082 square feet. SINCERE opened in 2013, with a monthly rent as high as HKD 1.22 million, at a rate of about HKD 101 per square foot. Subsequently, SINCERE was granted a six-month early lease renewal by the landlord in mid-2016, with a rent reduction of 26.2% to HKD 900,000, bringing the rate down to about HKD 74 per square foot; in recent years, the rent is estimated to have remained at a similar level.
It is understood that the store has recently signed a new lease with a new tenant nearly ten months in advance, set to move in starting January next year. According to close sources, the space is leased by the local cosmetics retailer Longfeng Group, which is applying for a listing in Hong Kong, with an estimated monthly rent of about HKD 800,000 and a rate of about HKD 66 per square foot, a decrease of 34.4% compared to SINCERE's peak monthly rent in 2013