"Faced with the fear of the unknown, investors both domestic and foreign are very cautious and preferring other markets where there is less risk, " said Andrew Sullivan of Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong.
From both a policymaker's and a bank's point of view, says Sun-bae Kim, regional economist at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, going after the consumer makes sense.
"The idea was to create a space without using walls, " said the younger Mr. Lim, who designed the piece with Mr. Kim and Eddy Man Kim, their third partner who is planning to move to Hong Kong soon.