GUANGZHOU: On January 18, Tony Luk opened his crystal shop in Hong Kong City - a new shopping centre in Beijing Road, Guangzhou. His fingers were crossed - this was the second time he had attempted to start a business of his own in the city.

Six months have passed and Tony is optimistic: his business is brisk. In that time, he has earned about 100,000 yuan (US$12,000).

Tony, formerly a Hong Kong restaurant employee, quit his job about five years ago to go to Guangzhou to team up with several friends to work in the wholesaling trade in crystal products. This was his first dip into the "sea" of mainland business.

Like numerous others attracted to the mainland by its booming economic activities, Tony failed - and badly.

He was a novice to crystals and discovered too late that his partners cheated him.

"I left the trade for several years until Hong Kong City was open in January," Tony told China Daily.

Although he did not enter the trade in the past several years, he never stopped acquiring new knowledge about crystals. Now he can easily differentiate a crystal of good quality from a bad one.

Speaking in Hong Kong City, Tony said the biggest attraction of the place was its low rent.

His shop - only a cubicle of some 11 square metres - is leased for 5,000 yuan (US$605) a month while it usually costs over 7,000 yuan (US$846) to lease a similar shop in other shopping centres in Beijing Road, one of the busiest streets in Guangzhou downtown.

Tony said retail business in the area was seasonal, May and June being the worst because it rained often. "When it rains, people don't like to go shopping."

"We doing business here should not complain or curse the shopping centre management. It is not a personal problem. This happens to every retail trade," he said.

Having learned from his bitter experience in the past, Tony encouraged other Hong Kong operators in adjacent shops to hold on when business was down.

"We have earned enough in the busy months to stand up against the odds in the low period."

The Spring Festival this year was a blessing to him. He made a profit of about 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) in a single month then.

Now, he looks forward to another brisk period: the school summer vacation. He hopes that youngsters with higher purchasing power will drop in and pick some of his expensive items. During the interview, he sold a necklace for 3,600 yuan (US$435) - 10 per cent off the tag price.

How much was the profit out of the necklace? Only a few hundred yuan, he said.

He said it was important to maintain a good credit among the customers as the crystal trade was a highly competitive business in Guangzhou. "We must sell crystal of high quality and back it with good services."

How? Tony said he would provide free services such as "needling" for visitors even if they did not buy anything. To him, visitors are always potential customers in future.

(HK Edition 08/03/2004 page2)