PARKnSHOP
Encyclopedia
PARKnSHOP is one of the two largest supermarket
chains in Hong Kong
, the other being Wellcome
. PARKnSHOP operates more than 260 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau
, and Mainland China
.
PARKnSHOP was acquired by Hutchison Whampoa
in 1973 when Hutchison Whampoa was chaired by Douglas Clague
. For a decade the store remained a local retailer until the mid-1980s when it began to expand outside Hong Kong. The PARKnSHOP concept mimics the larger supermarket layout found in North America
. It sells both Chinese merchandise and imported goods. PARKnSHOP is a member of the A.S. Watson Group (ASW)
, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa
Limited.
Phase 12 with a floor space of 4 200 m². The first ParknShop Megastore opened in 2002 in Metro City Tseung Kwan O
with a floor space of 6 700 m².
A.S. Watson Group also operates a number of supermarkets under different brand names that target higher-income consumers. There is one Great
supermarket located at Pacific Place
, one Gourmet
supermarket at Lee Gardens, and Taste
supermarkets at Festival Walk
(Kowloon Tong
), Citygate
(Tung Chung
), Stanley Plaza (Stanley
), Hopewell Centre (Wan Chai
), East Point City
(Hang Hau
, Tseung Kwan O
), Maritime Square
(Tsing Yi
), Olympian City
2 (Tai Kok Tsui), Metroplaza
(Kwai Fong
, Kwai Chung
) and TMTplaza (Tuen Mun
). In 2007, another brand, International by PARKnSHOP, was introduced at Happy Valley
, Hong Lok Yuen, United Centre at Admiralty
and Cyberport
which specializes in organic food
s.
PARKnSHOP's higher-income stores are billed as a "lifestyle" food stores and stock a large variety of imported goods, as well as fresh fruit
and vegetables and many nonfood items. The upmarket stores were launched in November, 2004, when the existing 35000 square feet (3,251.6 m²) PARKnSHOP store located at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong
was rebranded as TASTE. It is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to midnight.
store in Shekou
in 1984, making the chain the first foreign retailer to enter the mainland Chinese market. The chain's first mainland superstore opened in 2000 and its first mainland megastore followed in 2001 in the Tianhe
district of Guangzhou
. There are now more than 340 PARKnSHOP stores in northern and southern China, including locations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen
and Dongguan
.
the labour for its fresh foods counter; most of the employees were dismissed just before the Chinese New Year
in 2006. The aggrieved employees included many low-paid workers of longtime service. The employees' labor union complained that although 90% of the dismissed workers were rehired at the same position as before, their wages were lowered (some reportedly by as much as 44%), and their working hours were increased from 10 to 12 hours by the outsourcing subcontractor
. The resulting average hourly rate was HK$18..
in which the supermarket was accused of having mislabeled oilfish
and sold it as the more expensive codfish. The scare broke out after the Centre for Food Safety of Hong Kong had received complaints from 14 people who fell ill after consuming oil fish said to have been wrongly labeled as codfish by, and sold at, PARKnSHOP as well as its rival Wellcome
.
PARKnSHOP blamed the Indonesia
n authorities for its inconsistent translation among the Indonesian, English and scientific
names of the product. The Indonesian consul
in Hong Kong stated that oilfish caught in Indonesia is not destined for human consumption, but is exported only for use as an industrial lubricant to countries including Australia
, Canada
and Japan
. A Consumer Council spokesman for the case said that "a professional buyer [should] know right away, based on the price and appearance of the fish, that something's wrong despite the erroneous translation".
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
chains in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, the other being Wellcome
Wellcome
Wellcome is a supermarket chain owned by Jardine Matheson Holdings via its Dairy Farm subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being PARKnSHOP. Wellcome also operates supermarkets in Taiwan under the Wellcome name...
. PARKnSHOP operates more than 260 outlets in Hong Kong, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, and Mainland China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
PARKnSHOP was acquired by Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited or HWL of Hong Kong is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL is an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which includes the world's biggest port and telecommunication operations in 14...
in 1973 when Hutchison Whampoa was chaired by Douglas Clague
Douglas Clague
Colonel The Honorable Sir Douglas Clague CBE, MC, QPM, CPM, TD was a British soldier and entrepreneur who spent most of his life in Hong Kong.He was born in Rhodesia ....
. For a decade the store remained a local retailer until the mid-1980s when it began to expand outside Hong Kong. The PARKnSHOP concept mimics the larger supermarket layout found in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It sells both Chinese merchandise and imported goods. PARKnSHOP is a member of the A.S. Watson Group (ASW)
Watson's
Watson's or Watson's is part of the Health and Beauty retail and consumer division of the Hong Kong-based A.S. Watson Group, which in turn is part of the world wide conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd...
, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited or HWL of Hong Kong is a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL is an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which includes the world's biggest port and telecommunication operations in 14...
Limited.
Locations
Hong Kong
PARKnSHOP has more than 200 stores and 9,000 employees in Hong Kong. PARKnSHOP opened the first Superstore in Hong Kong in 1996 in Whampoa GardenWhampoa Garden
Whampoa Garden is the largest private housing estate located in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was built on the site of the former Whampoa Dockyards under Hutchison Whampoa Property's "garden city" concept and completed in 1991.-Features:...
Phase 12 with a floor space of 4 200 m². The first ParknShop Megastore opened in 2002 in Metro City Tseung Kwan O
Tseung Kwan O
Tseung Kwan O is a bay in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. In the northern tip of the bay lies the Tseung Kwan O Village....
with a floor space of 6 700 m².
A.S. Watson Group also operates a number of supermarkets under different brand names that target higher-income consumers. There is one Great
Great (supermarket)
Great is a supermarket in Hong Kong owned by AS Watson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. It has a branch in Pacific Place, Admiralty, which was opened in 2000 based on the re-decoration of Park'n Shop, Great's sister company. Its main customers are middle-class families. Its...
supermarket located at Pacific Place
Pacific Place
Pacific Place is a complex of office towers, hotels and a shopping centre situated at 88 Queensway, in Admiralty, Hong Kong. The latest phase, Three Pacific Place, is located at 1 Queen's Road East....
, one Gourmet
Gourmet (supermarket)
Gourmet is a supermarket in Hong Kong owned by AS Watson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. It has a branch in Lee Gardens, Causeway Bay, which was opened in 2005 based on the re-decoration of Park'n Shop, Gourmet's sister company. Its main customers are middle-class families...
supermarket at Lee Gardens, and Taste
Taste (supermarket)
Taste is a chain supermarket in Hong Kong owned by AS Watson, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. It began the first branch in Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong in 2004, but most of the branches are opened based on the re-decoration of Park'n Shop, Taste's sister company. Its main...
supermarkets at Festival Walk
Festival Walk
Festival Walk is an upmarket shopping centre in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong owned by Swire Properties from 1998 to 2011. It was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong at its launch in November 1998. Festival Walk was developed jointly by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific in 1993–1998. In 2006, Swire...
(Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong , formerly Kau Lung Tong, is an area in Hong Kong. Within New Kowloon, it is administratively divided by Kowloon City District and Sham Shui Po District...
), Citygate
Citygate
Citygate Outlets is owned by a consortium of Hong Kong's leading property developers and managed by Swire Properties Management Limited. When it first opened for business in 2000, the mall was simply known as Citygate. Following a major shift in market position, the mall renamed itself Citygate...
(Tung Chung
Tung Chung
Tung Chung, meaning 'eastern stream', is an area situated on the north-western coast of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Tung Chung, currently one of the latest generation of new towns, was formerly a rural village around Tung Chung Wan, and along the delta and lower courses of Tung Chung River and Ma...
), Stanley Plaza (Stanley
Stanley, Hong Kong
Stanley is a town and a tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It located on a peninsula on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island. It is east of Repulse Bay and west of Shek O, adjacent to Chung Hom Kok...
), Hopewell Centre (Wan Chai
Wan Chai
Wan Chai is a metropolitan area situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area north of Gloucester Road is often called...
), East Point City
East Point City
East Point City is a private housing estate and shopping centre in Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong, near MTR Hang Hau Station. Built on reclaimed land and developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, the estate consists of 7 high-rise buildings and a 2-storey shopping centre. A...
(Hang Hau
Hang Hau
Hang Hau is a residential area in Hong Kong. It is located at the eastern edge of the Tseung Kwan O New Town. Most of the land was reclaimed from Ap Chai Wan .- History :...
, Tseung Kwan O
Tseung Kwan O
Tseung Kwan O is a bay in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. In the northern tip of the bay lies the Tseung Kwan O Village....
), Maritime Square
Maritime Square
Maritime Square is a 4-storey shopping centre located on Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong. It was built and is owned by the MTR Corporation Limited in conjunction with the opening of Tsing Yi station...
(Tsing Yi
Tsing Yi
Tsing Yi , or Tsing Yi Island is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of 10.69 km², the island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost all its natural shore and the annexation of Nga Ying Chau and Chau...
), Olympian City
Olympian City
Olympian City is a shopping and residential complex on the reclaimed land of Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, next to the MTR Olympic Station. It is one of the main shopping and residential areas in West Kowloon...
2 (Tai Kok Tsui), Metroplaza
Metroplaza
Metroplaza is a shopping centre and office building in Kwai Fong, Hong Kong. Opposite to Kwai Fong Station of MTR, the mall is a shopping hub of adjacent areas of Kwai Fong, Lai King, Tsing Yi and Kwai Chung...
(Kwai Fong
Kwai Fong
Kwai Fong is an area of Kwai Chung Town, Kwai Tsing District, Hong Kong. The mainly residential area extends to Kwai Hing in the north, Lai King in the south, Tsing Yi Bridge to the west, and Tai Lin Pai Industrial Area to the east. It is part of the reclamation of Gin Drinkers Bay in 1960s.Kwai...
, Kwai Chung
Kwai Chung
Kwai Chung is a town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District of Hong Kong. Kwai Chung is the site of the container port. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a population of 287,000...
) and TMTplaza (Tuen Mun
Tuen Mun
Tuen Mun is a town near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in Hong Kong which can be dated back to the Neolithic period. In the more recent past, it was home to many Tanka fishermen who gathered at the Castle...
). In 2007, another brand, International by PARKnSHOP, was introduced at Happy Valley
Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Happy Valley is a mostly residential suburb of Hong Kong, located in the northern part of Hong Kong Island. Administratively, it is part of Wan Chai District....
, Hong Lok Yuen, United Centre at Admiralty
Admiralty, Hong Kong
Admiralty is the eastern extension of central business district of the Central on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. It is located on the eastern end of the Central and Western District, bordered by Wan Chai to the east and Victoria Harbour to the north. The name of Admiralty refers to the former...
and Cyberport
Cyberport
Cyberport is a creative digital community with a cluster of technology and digital content tenants. It is owned and managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government...
which specializes in organic food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
s.
PARKnSHOP's higher-income stores are billed as a "lifestyle" food stores and stock a large variety of imported goods, as well as fresh fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and vegetables and many nonfood items. The upmarket stores were launched in November, 2004, when the existing 35000 square feet (3,251.6 m²) PARKnSHOP store located at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon Tong , formerly Kau Lung Tong, is an area in Hong Kong. Within New Kowloon, it is administratively divided by Kowloon City District and Sham Shui Po District...
was rebranded as TASTE. It is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to midnight.
Mainland China
PARKnSHOP opened its first mainland ChinaMainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
store in Shekou
Shekou
Shekou is an area at the tip of Nantou Peninsula in Shenzhen, Guangdong, southern China, south of Nantou and facing Lau Fau Shan of Hong Kong across Deep Bay.It was formerly a customs station in Bao'an County and now belongs to Nanshan District of Shenzhen...
in 1984, making the chain the first foreign retailer to enter the mainland Chinese market. The chain's first mainland superstore opened in 2000 and its first mainland megastore followed in 2001 in the Tianhe
Tianhe
Tianhe District is one of the ten districts in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. In Chinese, the name Tianhe means a river in the sky. It is bordered by Yuexiu District on the west, Baiyun District on the north and Huangpu District on the east...
district of Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
. There are now more than 340 PARKnSHOP stores in northern and southern China, including locations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
and Dongguan
Dongguan
Dongguan is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to...
.
Generic products
PARKnSHOP sells products under generic brands, both what it calls "private label" and "Best Buy" branding.Labour outsourcing
The PARKnSHOP chain, including the rebranded TASTE superstore in Festival Walk, dismissed 525 employees in April 2005, when the company outsourcedOutsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
the labour for its fresh foods counter; most of the employees were dismissed just before the Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
in 2006. The aggrieved employees included many low-paid workers of longtime service. The employees' labor union complained that although 90% of the dismissed workers were rehired at the same position as before, their wages were lowered (some reportedly by as much as 44%), and their working hours were increased from 10 to 12 hours by the outsourcing subcontractor
Subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or in many cases a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract....
. The resulting average hourly rate was HK$18..
Mislabelling fiasco
In January 2007, PARKnSHOP was involved in a food scareFood safety in the People's Republic of China
Food safety in the People's Republic of China is a growing concern relating to agriculture. China's principal crops are rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, and cotton in addition to apples and other fruits and vegetables. China's principal livestock products include pork, beef, dairy, and eggs...
in which the supermarket was accused of having mislabeled oilfish
Oilfish
The oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus, is a species of snake mackerel in the family Gempylidae, and the only species in the genus Ruvettus. It is found in the Mediterranean, middle Atlantic and throughout the southern seas, at depths between 100 and 800 m...
and sold it as the more expensive codfish. The scare broke out after the Centre for Food Safety of Hong Kong had received complaints from 14 people who fell ill after consuming oil fish said to have been wrongly labeled as codfish by, and sold at, PARKnSHOP as well as its rival Wellcome
Wellcome
Wellcome is a supermarket chain owned by Jardine Matheson Holdings via its Dairy Farm subsidiary. The Wellcome supermarket chain is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Hong Kong, the other being PARKnSHOP. Wellcome also operates supermarkets in Taiwan under the Wellcome name...
.
PARKnSHOP blamed the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n authorities for its inconsistent translation among the Indonesian, English and scientific
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
names of the product. The Indonesian consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
in Hong Kong stated that oilfish caught in Indonesia is not destined for human consumption, but is exported only for use as an industrial lubricant to countries including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. A Consumer Council spokesman for the case said that "a professional buyer [should] know right away, based on the price and appearance of the fish, that something's wrong despite the erroneous translation".