Part I – Hong Kong the best place to buy electronics!

There are lots of good things to say about Hong Kong…

One of them is definitely legendary electronics & technology stores…

I was dreaming of buying a DSL camera and some Apple products (yeah, not one but some –which will be another article’s topic). I love to take pictures and videos. I used to have one of the semi-prof cameras, but at some point it wasn’t enough. When I was visiting shops in Turkey and doing the price comparison, I was almost discouraged to buy one because in Turkey they sell every piece of a DSL camera seperately and with a huge price that is more what it’s worth of. Think about how bad I wanted it and how ready I was to buy one and Hong Kong is the best place to make this dream come true.  For the Apple products, you probably know how expensive they are in countries other than the USA and Hong Kong. So I couldn’t wait to buy the things I wanted for a long time…Hong Kong the best place to buy electronics!

Why is Hong Kong the best place to buy electronics?

Because:

• It is cheap compared to anywhere in the world.
• It is tax free.
• Great quality.
• Unbelievable campaigns
• Bargaining

Aren’t these enough to jump into a plane and buy the whole world of electronics in Hong Kong? Well, I was lucky that my school paid for my flight and accomodation to get my work visa in Hong Kong.

I was also searching for the best address to buy these stuff on the internet. Then I saw pictures of one of my friends visiting Hong Kong in his Facebook profile and immediately asked for his experiences, it was the perfect timing. I got the names of “Fortress” and “Broadway” for DSL cameras and the Apple store in IFC Shopping Mall for Apple products. I’ve also did some search on the internet about them to see other comments as well. I was quite happy to talk with my friend cause recommendations always work.

The person who helped me to find my hotel with his daughter and we became friends with, told me to stay inside or spend my time in a shopping mall because of the typhoon which was going to hit the city in 4 hours, but do you think that I stayed in my hotel? Of course not. After reaching my hotel, I was ready to go to meet and have my camera and Apple products.

It was couple of hours before the typhoon hit the city. Most of the streets I walked through and metro stations were nearly empty. My first destination was the Apple Store in IFC Mall but as I learnt that I could only get my Iphone 5s by reserving it online.  As I was going to come here the next day and the day after, for sure,  I also postponed buying an Ipad to one of these days. I left the store to get my camera.

Where to buy a camera?

There are two big electronics stores:

• Fortress
• Broadway ( I wasn’t that happy with the customer service at that time)

There are also other chains and small shops in Hong Kong that I’ve seen and heard of, but in terms of warranty and customer satisfaction, I would rather be on the safe side. However, if you ever shopped from the other chains and any of the small shops, please drop us a comment and let us know about your experiences as well.

As it was close to me, I went to “Times Square”, a shopping mall in Causeway Bay, that has electronics(Computers, cameras and other stuff) stores in its seventh and eight floors.

Times Square Map Hong Kong

I first visited one of the stores of Broadway in Times Square. The staff of Broadway in that store actually weren’t that helpful cause they were having some difficulties in answering my questions in English. As I didn’t know any Cantonese, we couldn’t meet in the middle. I also felt like they didn’t have a deep knowledge based on the product I asked for. Finally they informed me about their sales campaigns that if I got a camera, they also would give me a tripod, a memory card, an extra battery and more… Looks good right? But I wasn’t that sure, so I told them that I would check out other places as well.

I walked into Fortress, which was next to Broadway. There were a lot of big LCD Screens and many other electronical devices, so I kept walking a little bit more to the end of the store and there I was, at the photopraphy department. There was a guy that immediately started to help me and then another staff also joined us to give me more details about the cameras, they also showed me the best deal they have which was Canon EOS60D. They told me a lot of things about this camera, besides I did quite a lot of shots in the store to see the focus, zoom, color palette and other features. The features they told me and as far as I discovered, I loved it.  Of course, I mentioned the campaign that was in Broadway and asked whether they had the same thing or not? The answer was “hell, yeah!”. I felt like I was in electronics heaven cause as I told you there was no way to buy them as “all in one” in Turkey or in China.

So I got :

Body of Canon EOS 60D

19-35mm lens

A memory card

An extra battery(it is not original)

A cleaning set

A tripod

Hmm did I forget anything?  Oh Yeah,

USB for the memory card

My new DSL camera

I paid 7480 Hong Kong Dollars(As of September, 964USD, 1.907,96TL) which was a good deal when you compare it with the price in Turkey which was 4000TL. Definitely, Hong Kong the best place to buy electronics!

In any case, it is better to check the things inside the box and even try if you can, to make sure that they work, before leaving the store. Besides, it is great if you can make sure that there is an English manual inside the box.  For the warranty of a camera, they ask you whether you would prefer to have it in China or in Hong Kong, so you need to pick one. Unfortunately they can’t obtain a warranty for the other parts of the world for a camera, better to keep in mind. Finally, before leaving the store make sure that you have your receipt and the warranty as well.

These guys deserve an appreciation and here is my style to thank you

Best salesmen in Fortress store, Hong Kong

I can’t even describe how I felt that finally I got my camera which will help me to take better and more pictures that I have been dreaming of for so long, thanks God.  I managed to get my camera on the first day I arrived Hong Kong before stores closed because of the typhoon. I am still really happy and I still look at my camera and smile. I think that will last for quite a while.

The next morning there was going to be a big race: You wanna check out what happened when I tried to get an Iphone 5s and the facts about getting an Apple product in Hong Kong? Read for more here.