These will probably be my last Tomicas in awhile

Happy 2019 All! I'm into my last couple of days in Hong Kong before I head back to Canada, where Tomica diecast is virtually non-existent.

 Today I made one final stop into Wan Chai, specifically Tai Yuen street to pick up a few more cheap Tomicas. I revisited Hung Hing toys and saw that they had the latest 2019 Hot Wheels lineup of cars. They've also got the Team Transport sets for between $149 and $169 HKD. Oh I did find an old 30th Anniversary Celica 4 car set, and it was only $89 HKD. I almost bought it except I noticed the chrome on one of the cars front wheel was gone, and another car looked like there was a spot of rust forming on the door. It was hard to tell if this package was brand new or not, but I decided to give it a pass. No regrets.

 The only cheap Tomicas I got from Hung Hing this trip was a Toyota Corolla Axio #27 in blister pack for $20 HKD.

And this unmarked Subaru police car #52 for $25 HKD.

 Across the street from Hung Hing Toys is another toy store that carries Tomica, they are called Yat Sing Toys. They carry later models of Tomicas at the $30 to $35 HKD price point. Their Tomica and diecast selection is nowhere near Hung Hing, but I did manage to find the Asia Special cars. I got Datsun Go AS-02 and the Honda BRIO AS-03, both for $20 HKD.

The next time I post, it will be back in Canada, probably in a week or two.  I'll unbox and take lots of pictures of all the cars I got.   Check back then!

Reporting in from Hong Kong - Dec 16, 2018

I went back to the HMV store in The Forest mall, Mongkok, only to discover it was in the process of closing it's doors.  No more Tomicas to be found.   Around the corner in the Moko mall, I found a store called CD Warehouse.  Can't believe that stores that sell CDs and DVDs still survive in this day and age.  But I digress, they have a small selection of basic Tomicas and TLVs.  Not cheap though, There basic cars range from 40 HKD to 46 HKD.

In other news, I finally managed to make it down to Tai Yuen St. near Wan Chai MTR station in Hong Kong.  Amidst all the clothing and christmas decorations, I managed to find four toy stores on this street.  Of those four, there are two stores that carry a decent diecast inventory.   Hung Hing Toys definitely had the biggest diecast collection I've seen so far in Hong Kong.  One can literally spend hours here checking out all the display cases with their vintage wares.   As I was in a bit of a rush, I didn't spend as much time as I wanted to here.   Newer basic Tomicas can be found for $25 and $30 HKD.

I picked this up on the way out.  It's number 34 The Mitsubishi Delica D5.   Scale is 1/65.  Nice feature is that both side doors open.   The price I paid was $18 HKD or about $3 CDN or $2.30 USD.

I'll definitely try to get back to Tai Yuen St to grab some more Tomicas maybe next week.   Bye for now.

Latest Acquistions - Dec 11, 2018

I had a craving for Vietnamese Banh Mi and stopped at a place called Q1 Bakery in Sham Shui Po. Afterwards, being so close to Fuk Wing St (Toy Street), I stopped in at 69 Hobby to see if they had new/old stock. Sure enough, they had replenished their rack with some different Tomicas, still $15 HKD each. I just picked up 2 more for the collection.


 #062 Mazda Axela Sport (blue), scale is 1/61.

 




















#105 Suzuki MR Wagon (White), scale is 1/62.

Both cars cost $15 HKD each, or about $2 USD, $2.60 CDN each.

Where to find Tomica diecast in Hong Kong

Here's my list of some of the stores that carry Tomica diecast, their pricing and special promotions in the Hong Kong and Kowloon areas.  I've been searching around both physically and on the web to find all the stores that sell Tomica in Hong Kong.   I'm a value collector (which means I'm cheap), so I prefer paying discounted prices over regular retail.

Tomica Shops

Several Tomica shops can be found in Hong Kong, especially in some of the larger malls.  There doesn't seem to be a single directory of all their store locations.   Prices of regular cars are $39 HKD and up.   Of the few Tomica shops I visited, none of them seemed to have any special promotions or pricing.

Toys R Us

With nearly 20 stores in the Hong Kong and Kowloon areas, Toys R Us is the largest toy retailer around.   The flagship store in Tsim Sha Tsui carrys special promotional vehicles, such as Toys R Us branded Tomicas and Tomica Event models.   Prices of regular cars are $39 HKD and up, but if you buy 3, you only pay $100 HKD.   The Tomica Event models range from $59 to $79 HKD and the Toys R Us specialty Tomicas are $59 HKD.  No other discounts on those.

Specialty Toy Stores

There's a few retailers that seem to be co-branded with Tomica but they are not exclusively Tomica stores such as the store in Hollywood Plaza (Diamond Hill MTR).  Their pricing is comparable to Tomica shop pricing and I didn't see any promo pricing.   Prices from $39 HKD and up.

Japanese Department Stores

Some of the larger Japanese department stores carry a limited selection of Tomica vehicles and playsets.   Aeon and Sogo to name a couple.   I haven't checked out the Sogo offering yet, but the Aeon flagship store in Lai Chi Kok has some of the newer cars at $39 HKD.  Xmas pricing is 20% off right now at Aeon.

Log-on Craft stores

This specialty craft stores carry Tomica but they have some of the highest prices I've seen in Hong Kong for regular retail cars.  Their pricing ranges from $42 to $46 HKD.  No promo pricing.

HMV

I was surprised to find that HMV carries Tomica in Hong Kong.  There's only about 3 or 4 stores and their vehicle offerings are new but limited.  There pricing is $39 HKD and up, and right now they have 25% off on many of their products, including Tomica.  The HMV store I went to is in The Forest mall in MongKok.

Toy Streets

The two main Toy streets in Hong Kong are Tai Yuen Street in Wan Chai and Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po.   I haven't yet been to Tai Yuen Street but Fuk Wing Street has several shops selling diecast like Tomica, Majorette and Hot Wheels.  I managed to find some older Tomicas (circa 2011 through 2015) on Fuk Wing Street and only paid $15 HKD for them.  There's some other shops selling Tomicas for about $25 HKD.  You can find the newer cars as well but expect to pay retail pricing of $39 HKD and up.   I'll try to visit Tai Yuen street and give an update later.

Specialty Diecast Stores

A quick google shows me some known and unknown diecast shops in Hong Kong.  Names like Daboxtoys, Ken's Garage appear.  I'll see if I can find some time to visit them and report back here.

I went to some diecast stalls in Mongkok but didn't find anything too exciting there except a lot of mainstream Hot Wheels at inflated prices.

Latest Acquisitions - Dec 01, 2018

There's a Japanese department store called Aeon in Hong Kong.   Today I went to their flagship store in Lai Chi Kok hoping to score some deals on Tomicas.  I got there as the store was opening around 10:30 am.   The toy department is on the 1st floor up one level from the ground floor where they have the grocery store and food stalls.

The Tomica selection in Aeon's toy department was pretty limited.  All the basic and Disney cars were locked behind a glass case.  There were a few TLV and some Tomica town playsets.  All of the basic cars were priced at 39 HKD, which is the regular retail price in Hong Hong.   There were 20% clearance discount signs in some spots throughout the toy department but wasn't sure if that applied to the Tomicas.  If The 20% was valid, the sale price on the Tomicas would have come in at around 32 HKD.  I decided to give it a pass and took the Hong Kong MTR to Sham Shui Po just two stops away.

Sham Shui Po is where the major toy vendors are located, specifically on Fuk Wing St.  It's just two streets over from the MTR exit.   Fuk Wing street was super busy today, firstly because it was Saturday, and secondly because everyone was out buying Christmas decorations or for Christmas gift exchanges at school.

The first vendor I hit was called Hobby69.  They have a bunch of old Tomicas hanging from their front counter.  The majority of the cars are in old blister packs, not red boxes.  The price couldn't be beat at just $15 HKD.  There were over a dozen older models to choose from, some farm or airport vehicles, some little hatchbacks in 1:57 scale and I picked up some of the cars more in the 1:64 scale.

These are the ones I got:

#27 Nissan Juke (red), issued in 2010.  Scale 1:64

#60 Toyota Corolla Fielder (black)  issued in 2013, scale 1:61

#82 Mazda CX-5 (burgundy), issued in 2014, scale: 1:66

#103 Nissan Note (blue), issued in 2012, scale: 1:63

I checked out most of the other toy shops along Fuk Wing St.  There weren't  that many vendors selling Tomicas.  I did find a place selling boxed and blistered older model Tomicas for $25 HKD.
If I have time I might go back when it's a little less crowded.

My total haul today: 4 cars at $15 HKD each, total $60 HKD


* For today's currency conversion purposes:
$39 HKD = 5.00 USD or 6.70 CAD.
$32 HKD = 4.00 USD or 5.45 CAD.
$15 HKD = 2.00 USD or 2.55 CAD.
$25 HKD = 3.20 USD or 4.25 CAD.
$60 HKD - 7.70 USD or 10.20 CAD.

Latest Acquistions - Nov 21, 2018

I discovered the HMV in MongKok by mistake.   I was just wandering around the MongKok MTR station and found this mall called The Forest closeby.   On the upper level, I could see there was an HMV store.  I wasn't expecting to find anything, was just curious to check out the store since all of the HMVs in Canada have pretty much gone away. 

When I got off the escalator, I found that there was actually two parts to the store.   On one side was the media like DVDs and CDs.  On the other side they had pop culture stuff like Tshirts, Marvel, Disney items.   In the middle of it all. I saw a Tomica display.   Best of all there was a 25% off sale going on.  The basic Tomicas were priced at $39 HKD, but with the 25% off discount this came to $30.  They had about a quarter of the full lineup, but they were the latest models.

Here's what I got:

#78 Subaru Levorg (blue), issued in 2015, scale is 1/65.

#93 Nissan Leaf (white, with blue roof), issued in 2017, scale is 1/63.

My total cost for today was $60 HKD for the 2 cars.
There's only 4 or 5 HMV stores in Hong Kong, so if I get a chance I try to visit some of the other stores and see if they have a different selection of cars. 

$30 HKD = $3.80 USD or $5.10 CAD.

Latest Acquisitions - Fri Nov 9, 2018

I'll be spending a couple of months in the Hong Kong area.   While I'm here I'm hoping to add some more Tomicas to my small collection.

I heard about this gian Toys R Us store in Hong Kong at the Tsim Sha Tsui Harbour City mall. 
The Toys R Us in Tsim Sha Tsui is the flagship store so they carry a lot of exclusive and promo diecast that the other Toys R Us stores in Hong Kong don't have.   They had some Tomica Event Models on display and for sale.  I decided to go down and check it out.

I saw this display over the regular Tomica shelves.  Some of these Exclusive cars are already sold out.

They only have a limited selection.  To buy one the Tomica Event cars, you have to take one of the tickets at the store entrance and then take it to the customer service desk to redeem the coupon for the car.   The Tomica Event cars are being sold at $60 HKD which makes it under $8 USD or $10 CAD each.

I thought the Suzuki Carry Pig truck was pretty cool, so I bought that and the Toyota Prius model.

They also have some Toys R Us exclusive Tomicas also at $60 HKD.  I might go back and take another look one day.