Chickeeduck Owner Defiant Despite Closure Next Year

Chickeeduck owner Chow say stores will close end of 2022

It was only a matter of time before pro-democracy clothing store Chickeeduck would be forced to close and a few days ago the owner announced it would do so by the end of next year, citing "harassment by the evil force".

Businessman Herbert Chow Siu-lung, founder and CEO of Chickeeduck, said he and his shops had been targeted by smear campaigns and subjected to pressure from the authorities since he lent his high-profile support to the anti-government protesters in 2019.

The stores sell pro-democracy clothing

"The situation now is such that if you do not speak up in support of the government, you will be regarded as an enemy of the state," he said last Thursday, when he revealed he will close local Chickeeduck operations.

He said his suppliers on the mainland and overseas had received warnings not to do business with his company.

"If we cannot guarantee a stable supply of products, our business model cannot be sustained. And our decision is to exit the Hong Kong market in the second half of 2022," he said.

But he was quick to add he was not shutting down the Chickeeduck brand entirely.

"I am not leaving Hong Kong and I have no plan to emigrate overseas either. I may start other businesses in the future under the trademark of Chickeeduck," he added.

Chow said perhaps he would get into the early childhood business and set up a "Chickeeduck nursery", or expand the clothing business overseas.

A Chickeeduck store with graffiti artwork

He said his brand's exit from Hong Kong should not be seen as a failure of the "yellow economic circle", referring to the campaign for pro-democracy people to spend money in businesses that supported the 2019 anti-government protests.

"Hong Kong people's support for the yellow economic circle has been strong," he said. "You can see long queues outside some yellow restaurants. They have no problem with their business. Chickeeduck is an exceptional case because we cannot sustain ourselves if we cannot keep a steady supply of products from our suppliers."

A close friend of Occupy co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chow said he has experienced difficulty in renting shop spaces and many landlords have declined to renew his leases. At its peak Chickeeduck had around 20 outlets across Hong Kong, but he says only five remain.

"Although Chickeeduck has experienced disturbance from the evil forces in the past 18 months, we have never given up on voicing out against injustice and will never consider backing off."

Chow is a good friend of Benny Tai (centre)

Chow was also defiant, saying he was not afraid of the national security law. "I do not think selling clothes is against national security."

Last year he displayed a protest statue in his store in D-Park shopping centre in Tsuen Wan, and the mall operator ordered Chow to remove it.

He did eventually, citing "political suppression", and added when his lease was up he would have to vacate the premises.

Chow made headlines again in May when national security police searched his Chickeeduck store in Tsuen Wan. Officers were responding to a complaint about an alleged breach of the national security law by displaying graffiti-style writing over the store's entrance reading, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times".

While the slogan was popular with protesters in 2019, a court ruled this year that the use of the term could incite others to commit secession, an offence under the security law.