Christopher Shay for The Wall Street Journal
旺角一家名为Comma Cafe的咖啡店
就
在星巴克(Starbucks)和太平洋咖啡公司(Pacific Coffee Company)继续进军香港市场的时候，数十家小型独立咖啡店默默地隐藏于香港一座座大厦的上层楼面，希望悄然避开不断上涨的租金和愈加激烈的竞争。这些位于建筑物上层楼面的咖啡店精巧别致，有的还充满奇特和另类的色彩，为楼下血拼购物的人们提供了一处放松的场所，也成为了人们逃离"蜗居"生活的好去处，光顾这些咖啡店的许多年轻人住的都是拥挤而狭窄的房子。由于不在临街的店面，它们无需承担底层店铺的高昂租金，它们还想出了一种熟人口口相传的行销策略，这大大不同于其连锁式竞争对手所采用的大打宣传牌的方法。
许多咖啡馆都有自己的主题：有的以桌游招揽生意，有的拥有大量藏书，还有的咖啡店里满是泰迪熊和活生生的宠物。有一家咖啡店被设计成了小学教室的样子，台位是木质的课桌椅，而笔记本则成了这里的菜单。尽管几乎所有的咖啡店都供应茶和咖啡（你或许还能发现酒精饮料），但也有的咖啡店以某些特别的食品种类为特色，从海鲜、意大利面到芝士蛋糕等。
16岁的Chloris Leung常常光顾这种楼上咖啡店，她说，这些不同种类的咖啡店有着不同的个性――就像人一样。她锺爱一家名为Think Café的咖啡店，这里有很多书，舒适的沙发，还可以看见下面往来于铜锣湾的购物人群。
十年前，楼上咖啡店开始积聚人气，大概也就是在这个时候，星巴克的身影出现了。如今，两百多家这样的独立咖啡厅隐匿于香港的各个角落，其中多数位于铜锣湾和旺角。不过据研究香港餐厅的线上资料库OpenRice，过去十年中至少还有150家这样的咖啡店关张歇业。
面对超过60%的收入都用于缴纳租金的情况，Think Café的所有者之一、34岁的Otto Luk说，现在他开这家咖啡店已经不是为了赚钱了。Luk曾是《香港经济日报》(Hong Kong Economic Times)的记者。他的这家咖啡店环境敞亮，为了便于举行金融论坛，可供25人就餐的店面被扩大了一倍，论坛是他的主要收入来源。Luk说，要是仅仅只做咖啡店的生意，那只够保本。
Luk说，这真的不是为了赚钱，我们更喜欢的是在这里交朋友。
有这种想法的咖啡店老板并不只是Luk一人。33岁的Cynthia Leung与他人合伙经营着铜锣湾一家名为Cat Store的咖啡厅，这里养着13只猫。这家咖啡馆在十几年前就开始营业了。她说，她的咖啡馆通常是不赔也不赚――自2006年以来租金已经上涨了20%――但她并不在乎赚的钱少了。
她说，我每天醒来后都想到我的办公室去。
Leung说，许多人来这儿是为了向猫咪倾诉他们的烦恼。她说，猫咪是一种疗伤药，人们在猫咪身上找到了信任。
她还说，但如果租金一再上涨，她也许将不得不关门了。
据房地产跨国企业世邦魏理仕(CB Richard Ellis)的数据，2010年第四季度的香港零售租金较上年同期上涨了12%。
而连锁式咖啡店的数量却保持着递增势头。据国际性市场研究公司Euromonitor的资料，2001年至2009年间，类似星巴克和太平洋咖啡这样的咖啡店数量在香港增加超过三倍，该公司还预计今后几年它们将在香港继续扩张。星巴克于2000年在香港开设了首家咖啡店，如今其香港网站上已经列出了115家。而太平洋咖啡公司在香港则拥有123家门店，该公司由其士泛亚控股有限公司(Chevalier Pacific Holdings Ltd.)和中国的国有企业集团华润创业(China Resources Enterprise)共同拥有。
尽管如此，许多楼上咖啡店的老板和出资人却说，星巴克并没有对他们构成竞争，因为星巴克针对的是另一类、通常是更加年轻的消费群体。
Leung说，我们提供的东西有所不同。
对于像Andy Lau这样的消费者来说，楼上咖啡店就是第二客厅。这位23岁的音乐制作人和三个朋友最近就聚在铜锣湾的Dream On咖啡厅，这里可供36人就餐。他们说，在香港很少有地方能让年轻人一起呆上几个小时，说说彼此的想法。
Lau说，如果楼上咖啡店关门了，我们也许就只有去星巴克了。可我们不想去。
Christopher Shay
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
As Starbucks and Pacific Coffee Company continue to make their move into the Hong Kong market, dozens of small, independently owned coffee shops lie hidden on the upper floors of the city's buildings, hoping to sneak by rising rents and increased competition.
Quaint and sometimes quirky, these lau seung ('upper-floor') cafes serve as a respite from the busy shopping streets below and the cramped quarters many of their young customers inhabit. By locating above street level they avoid the high rents of ground-floor spaces and create an in-the-know marketing strategy, far different from the high-visibility approach of their chain competitors.
Many have themes: Some tout board games, others boast large libraries and some are filled with teddy bears and live pets. One is designed to look like an elementary-school classroom, with wooden desks and chairs for seats and tables and notebooks as menus. While almost all serve tea and coffee (you may find alcoholic beverages as well), some also specialize in particular types of food, from seafood to pasta to cheesecake.
'These kinds of shops have different personalities―just like people,' says Chloris Leung, a 16-year-old upstairs-cafe regular. She prefers Think Café with its large book collection, plush sofas and views of Causeway Bay shoppers below.
Upstairs cafes started gaining in popularity 10 years ago, about the same time that Starbucks entered the market. More than 200 of these independent cafes are now tucked away throughout Hong Kong, mostly in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. But at least another 150 of them have shuttered in the past decade, according to OpenRice, an online database of Hong Kong restaurants.
With more than 60% of revenue going to rent, Otto Luk, 34, co-owner of the Think Café and a former journalist at the Hong Kong Economic Times, says he's not running his coffee shop for the money. His bright 25-seat shop doubles as a place to run financial seminars, which is his main source of income, but as a cafe, the shop breaks even, he says.
'This is not really for profit,' Mr. Luk says. 'We like more to make friends here.'
It's a sentiment shared by many owners. Cynthia Leung, the 33-year-old co-owner of the Cat Store in Causeway Bay, started her cafe, home to 13 cats, more than a decade ago. She says her shop usually breaks even ― her rent has increased by 20% since 2006, she says ― but she doesn't mind not making more money.
'I wake up and I want to go to my office everyday,' she says.
Ms. Leung says many people come to the café to talk to the cats about their problems. 'Cats are a kind of therapy,' she says. 'People find trust with them.'
But if her rent continues to rise, she adds, she may have to close shop.
Retail rents in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of 2010 were up 12% from a year earlier, according to CB Richard Ellis, a multinational real estate company.
And the chain coffee shops keep multiplying. According to Euromonitor, an international market research firm, the number of coffee shops like Starbucks and Pacific Coffee in Hong Kong more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2009, and it predicts continued expansion throughout the city over the next few years. Starbucks, which opened its Hong Kong first store in 2000, now lists 115 on its Hong Kong website. Pacific Coffee Company, owned by Chevalier Pacific Holdings Ltd. and the Chinese-government backed conglomerate China Resources Enterprises, boasts 123.
Still, many owners and patrons of upstairs coffee shops say Starbucks isn't the competition because they cater to a separate, usually younger, audience.
'We offer something different,' Ms. Leung says.
For customers like Andy Lau, a 23-year-old music producer, upstairs cafes serve as a second living room. He and a group of three friends recently caught up at Café Dream On, a 36-seat Causeway Bay shop. They say there are few places in Hong Kong where young people can hang out for hours and just trade ideas.
If upstairs cafes close, says Mr. Lau, 'we'd probably have to go to Starbucks. But we wouldn't want to.'
Christopher Shay
Quaint and sometimes quirky, these lau seung ('upper-floor') cafes serve as a respite from the busy shopping streets below and the cramped quarters many of their young customers inhabit. By locating above street level they avoid the high rents of ground-floor spaces and create an in-the-know marketing strategy, far different from the high-visibility approach of their chain competitors.
Many have themes: Some tout board games, others boast large libraries and some are filled with teddy bears and live pets. One is designed to look like an elementary-school classroom, with wooden desks and chairs for seats and tables and notebooks as menus. While almost all serve tea and coffee (you may find alcoholic beverages as well), some also specialize in particular types of food, from seafood to pasta to cheesecake.
'These kinds of shops have different personalities―just like people,' says Chloris Leung, a 16-year-old upstairs-cafe regular. She prefers Think Café with its large book collection, plush sofas and views of Causeway Bay shoppers below.
Upstairs cafes started gaining in popularity 10 years ago, about the same time that Starbucks entered the market. More than 200 of these independent cafes are now tucked away throughout Hong Kong, mostly in Causeway Bay and Mong Kok. But at least another 150 of them have shuttered in the past decade, according to OpenRice, an online database of Hong Kong restaurants.
With more than 60% of revenue going to rent, Otto Luk, 34, co-owner of the Think Café and a former journalist at the Hong Kong Economic Times, says he's not running his coffee shop for the money. His bright 25-seat shop doubles as a place to run financial seminars, which is his main source of income, but as a cafe, the shop breaks even, he says.
'This is not really for profit,' Mr. Luk says. 'We like more to make friends here.'
It's a sentiment shared by many owners. Cynthia Leung, the 33-year-old co-owner of the Cat Store in Causeway Bay, started her cafe, home to 13 cats, more than a decade ago. She says her shop usually breaks even ― her rent has increased by 20% since 2006, she says ― but she doesn't mind not making more money.
'I wake up and I want to go to my office everyday,' she says.
Ms. Leung says many people come to the café to talk to the cats about their problems. 'Cats are a kind of therapy,' she says. 'People find trust with them.'
But if her rent continues to rise, she adds, she may have to close shop.
Retail rents in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of 2010 were up 12% from a year earlier, according to CB Richard Ellis, a multinational real estate company.
And the chain coffee shops keep multiplying. According to Euromonitor, an international market research firm, the number of coffee shops like Starbucks and Pacific Coffee in Hong Kong more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2009, and it predicts continued expansion throughout the city over the next few years. Starbucks, which opened its Hong Kong first store in 2000, now lists 115 on its Hong Kong website. Pacific Coffee Company, owned by Chevalier Pacific Holdings Ltd. and the Chinese-government backed conglomerate China Resources Enterprises, boasts 123.
Still, many owners and patrons of upstairs coffee shops say Starbucks isn't the competition because they cater to a separate, usually younger, audience.
'We offer something different,' Ms. Leung says.
For customers like Andy Lau, a 23-year-old music producer, upstairs cafes serve as a second living room. He and a group of three friends recently caught up at Café Dream On, a 36-seat Causeway Bay shop. They say there are few places in Hong Kong where young people can hang out for hours and just trade ideas.
If upstairs cafes close, says Mr. Lau, 'we'd probably have to go to Starbucks. But we wouldn't want to.'
Christopher Shay
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