ParknShop

ParknShop has more than 300 stores and 9,000 employees in Hong Kong.[1] ParknShop opened the first superstore[fn 1] in Hong Kong in 1996 in Whampoa Garden[2] Phase 12 with a floor space of 4,200 m². The first ParknShop megastore[fn 2] 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 Leighton Centre (Causeway Bay), 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), 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 specialises in organic foods.

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 3,300 m² (35,000 sq ft) ParknShop store located at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong was rebranded as Taste.

In 1984 ParknShop opened its first mainland China store in Shekou, 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 about sixty ParknShop stores in northern and southern China, including locations in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhuhai.

In April 2005, the ParknShop chain, including the rebranded Taste superstore in Festival Walk, controversially dismissed 525 employees, when the company outsourced 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' 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.[3]

In 2013, Hutchison invited bids for the entire ParknShop chain, during "a strategic review" of the ParknShop business, for an expected price of US$3 billion to US$4 billion. The company received eight bids, from: China Resources Vanguard (China / Hong Kong), Wal-Mart Stores (US), Aeon (Japan), Woolworths (Australia) and Wesfarmers (Australia), CP Group (Thailand), and Sun Art Retail (China).[4] However, in October the company announced that it would retain ownership of the chain and focus on expanding in China.[5]

ParknShop sells products under generic brands, both what it calls "private label"[fn 3] and "Best Buy"[fn 4] branding. Their group of supermarkets also exclusively carries a variety of Waitrose and Groupe Casino products from the UK and France respectively.

ParknShop participates in A.S. Watson's customer loyalty program, called "MoneyBack" [fn 5].