Hong Kong 01 Interview – Love Vintage Bags｜Interview with Lovintage founder CHANEL inspired him to build Vintage Bag Paradise

In the 1980s, Japan's economic boom led to a wave of consumption of European luxury brands, with Louis Vuitton being the most popular. Lovintage owner Zijian discovered that Hong Kong ladies were craving for CHANEL, so he decided to focus on selling second-hand CHANEL bags. He spent eight years, thought, and knowledge to create a rare paradise for second-hand CHANEL handbags in Hong Kong.

In this first episode of the special topic [Love for Used Bags], we will detail how the owner of Lovintage, Zijian, transformed from an amateur eBay seller to the owner of a used handbag store with a monthly turnover of one million yuan.

Photography: Gong Jiasheng

Zijian and his little kingdom Lovintage. (Photo: Gong Jiasheng)

Under the epidemic, many small and medium-sized enterprises have been unable to withstand the pressure and have closed down one after another in the past year. Many big brands have also withdrawn their leases in prosperous areas, and the city's appearance has changed beyond recognition in an instant.

Near Times Square in Causeway Bay, a second-hand bag shop called Lovintage remains the same as before, quietly collecting second-hand CHANEL bags scattered all over the place, as if it has stopped in time. Lovintage is located on the first floor of a building on Sharp East Street. A conspicuous sign hangs on the exterior wall of the inconspicuous building, which can be seen from Times Square. Zijian's small kingdom has been hiding here for eight years in a blink of an eye.

Eight years, full of stories.

Lovintage is located on the first floor of a building on Shadong Street. (Provided by the interviewee)

Zijian founded Lovintage seven or eight years ago. He went to Japan to work as a web designer and came across Japanese second-hand handbags by chance. He gradually accumulated relevant knowledge and a love for second-hand handbags. He decided to try his hand at selling second-hand bags on eBay and started his second-hand handbag business.

A few years later, Zijian returned to Hong Kong. At first, he had no intention of opening a shop, nor did he clearly consider second-hand CHANEL handbags as the positioning of Lovintage. Until one day, he was strolling in the "dead" Tsim Sha Tsui's Li Shi Shopping Center. While strolling, he met an elderly tenant. The two of them unexpectedly hit it off, and the other party even suggested that he rent one of the shops to do business. Although Li Shi Shopping Center was sparsely populated at the time and there were many good places to rent, Zijian still rented the shop next to the other party because of the cheap rent and the belief that "it is better to have a shop than not to have one" and "trial business" in Li Shi Shopping Center.

In recent years, there are many online shopping agents and second-hand branded bag stores, and there are also miracles of online shop owners getting rich. Zijian decided to open a physical store because he wanted to build a good reputation for Lovintage. "Put yourself in your shoes. It's not a very famous store. How could people buy a bag worth tens or even tens of thousands of dollars from you for no reason? The consumption on the website is actually proportional to the trust of the website. It is not easy to get people to buy a handbag worth more than tens of thousands of dollars on the website... When people know that there is a physical store in Lisbon, they will come to take a look."

As a result, within just one month of opening the store, Zijian was able to get rid of the miserable situation of not being able to sell even one bag a month, and successfully delivered a good result of hundreds of thousands of sales. However, Zijian still remembers that in the store of less than 100 square feet, he heard passers-by say to the second-hand CHANEL handbags in the window: "Wow, I have never seen these models before, they must be fake!"

Lovintage has a wide variety of handbags in its store. (Lovintage)

Fortunately, Zijian always believed in what he was doing, and a familiar customer said something unintentionally: "It's more appropriate to sit down and talk when you come to sell such expensive things." Zijian then made up his mind to move the store, and the "trial operation" period of Lishi ended in just six months.

Zijian targeted the upstairs shop at that time. The lower rent was one of the reasons, and the other reason was the positioning of the customer base. "We are a typical OTO. Many customers have seen a certain bag on the website. They come to the store to re-confirm the quality of the handbag. Therefore, the average unit price of our customers is very high. Our type of store is not for the general market. In order to maintain the quality of the handbags, we would rather have fewer people, but almost every customer will buy."

Lovintage mainly sells second-hand CHANEL bags. It took eight years of time, effort and knowledge to create a rare paradise for second-hand CHANEL handbags in Hong Kong. (Photo: Gong Jiasheng)

With clear positioning and effective promotional strategies, Zijian has successfully built his own little kingdom in Causeway Bay. Before the epidemic, the shop provided an average of 200 second-hand CHANEL items for buyers to choose from, many of which were rare and precious designs. At that time, the number of buyers reached dozens per day, which was very impressive. Even under the shadow of pneumonia, Lovintage store still successfully collected more than 100 second-hand CHANEL items and maintained a certain amount of business, standing firm. The reason for this is believed to be Zijian's dedication over the past eight years and his accumulated reputation and word of mouth.

Original URL: Loving Vintage Bags | Interview with Lovintage founder CHANEL inspired him to build Vintage Bag Paradise | Hong Kong 01 https://www.hk01.com/article/537730