A dime bag for my thoughts...: J2: The Hong Kong Shop Guide

Every time I go on vacation, I usually go out and venture across whatever city I'm in and find the best and coolest shops to buy lifestyle swag and sneakers. I've seen the best of the best from Flight Club LA to UNDFTD Las Vegas to HOH New York among many, many more. I thought I had seen it all. I haven't been to Tokyo yet, which is probably my next stop to cop kicks, but being in Hong Kong, I now officially cross off Hong Kong on my hit list and add it to my list as one of the best places to buy sneakers.

I've compiled a small list of the places we've hit up. I couldn't take that many pictures as most shops wouldn't really allow (that, and I was too lazy to carry around a heavy camera AND shopping bags). So here it is, finally. The Hong Kong Shop Guide. If you're ever in Hong Kong and love sneaks as much as I do, hit these places up. Thanks for waiting.

I've divided the stores by quadrants in the city. In any event you are in HK, it'll be easier and more efficient to search for these shops based on area rather than hopping from one point to another wasting precious shopping time. Enjoy.

Tsim Sha Tsui

Concept shop - Winning Commercial Building, 46-48 Hillwood Road, Shop 246-247, 2/F
- Very small shop with a limited selection of clothing and accessories.
- Original Fake, Evisu, Bear Brick and Kaws toys

Mr.SK / Sample Kicks - Winning Commercial Building, 46-48 Hillwood Road, Shop 232, 2/F
- Another extremely tiny shop thats hard to find.
- Located in the ghetto by the Concept Shop
- Very limited selection of kicks from Nike, Adidas and Reebok at very steep prices
- Holds local brands and a few accessories

Central

A Bathing Ape - 10 Queen Road
- Great store. Easy to find in Cental. One of the biggest Bape stores around.
- As always the prices aren't too attractive.
- Bathing Ape, Baby Milo, Bape Kids, Bape Women
- Large collection of Bapstas displayed in glass along the store

A.P.C. - 34 Wyndham Street
- Steep prices, but they give good deals if you ever plan on spending cash
- More like a Ben Sherman store than anything else.

Nowhere - 28 Whyndham Street
- Nigos second store in HK. Small shop with a decent selection of stuff.
- Ursus, Mr. Bathing Ape, Billionaire Boys Club

Causeway Bay

J-01 - 57 Paterson Street
- Another small shop. Nothing really for me.
- Mostly local brands, some Adidas and Evisu.

A.P.C. - 66 Paterson Street
- Same as above

Double Park - 10 Cleveland Street
- Great store. Big. Helpful staff with a number of brands available.
- X-Large, Zoo York, Obey, Evisu, MLB and a number of other stuff.

Adidas Originals - 6 Kingston Street
- Nice double level store with a custom t-shirt station. Kind of like Rocket.
- Adidas Originals apparel, accessories and good number of Star Wars Adidas stuff.

Nike Sportswear - 7 Pak Sha Road
- AMs, Destroyers, Lunars, Athetics Dept. gear, like any other Nike Sportswear store.

852 - United Success Commercial Building, 506-508, Jaffe Road, 2/F
- Skate shop thats almost impossible to find or even run into.
- Vans, Enties, Emerica, Nike SB, Huf SF
- Pretty expensive shit considering the brands they carry aren't locally available, but is cheap in North America.

Stussy - 67-69 Percival Street, Ko Wah Building, 2/F
- One of the best Stussy stores I've been to. Small store but the selection isn't too bad.
- Stussy, UNDFTD, Boneyard, some skate brands.

Juice - 9 Cleveland Street
- Small store with some dope stuff. Small collection though.
- Bear Brick, New Era, Evisu, KAWS, Original Fake

Timesquare - (a mall located in Causeway Bay by Hennessy Road and Percival)
- Nike Sportswear, Adidas, New Balance, Ben Sherman, I.T., Choccolate as well has designer brands if you're into that.
- We came at a great time as this was the 10th Garden Anniversary and an urban art exhibit was held by famous urban designer Michael Lau. Not too familiar with his work until I visited, but he was part of a few World One series Air Force ones and other exclusive sneakers for Nike.

Mong Kok

Last but most definitely not least, the burrows of Fa Yuen street in Mong Kok, Hong Kong; the jaw dropping haven for Sneaker Heads everywhere - the place globally dubbed as "Sneaker Street". My eyes lit up when I saw this place. The place was nearly packed and was sort of in the ghettos and near the Fa Yuen Market where they sell locally produced stuff and fake brands, so I didn't want to bring my camera in fear of it getting jacked. It would have been awesome if I did but I had no idea what to expect.

The place is littered with AT LEAST 8-10 stores each of Nike Basketball and Nike Sportswear Stores, Adidas Stores, New Balance stores, small consignment shops with hidden gems, the famous Shooting Five jersey store loaded with Michael Jordan memorabilia, toys, jerseys and NBA Authentics, Swingmans, and throwbacks with OG J's on display. Stores upon stores of nothing BUT sneakers. I had a SOLE-gasm. It was about 2-3 cubic blocks of just shoe stores. Most of you are thinking, "Oh God, what the fuck did he buy?!"

I can tell you I held my own with small, modest pick ups during my "Sneaker Hunt". Here's some pics, along with pics of some of the stores I've been to.

A few pics from the Michael Lau 10th Anniversary Exhibit in Times Square Mall