23-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong Pokemon card revival sees adults collecting for nostalgia, competition and cash
At the end of a corridor in a nondescript industrial building in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, stands a unit with a big illuminated sign beside the door.
Inside, hundreds of trading cards, mostly from the Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering game series, are displayed neatly on shelves on one side of the room. The cards are sealed in transparent cases, with price tags ranging from around HK$90 (US$11.50) to more than HK$6,000.
Near the display, two Pokemon card game enthusiasts battle it out.
Sunny Ma, chief executive of Premier Hobby Collective, says his business is about building a community among trading card lovers and creating a space where they can gather and share the joy of their hobby.
Sunny Ma, chief executive of Premier Hobby Collective, a trading card store in Hong Kong's Kowloon Bay neighbourhood. Photo: Leopold Chen
He regularly invites customers to open their newly bought trading cards at the shop, and organises game competitions. 'I do not [want] people to come to buy cards and then just walk away,' he says.
Ma, a Pokemon card collector himself, co-founded Premier Hobby Collective in December 2024. It is part of a recent boom in trading-card-related businesses in Hong Kong fuelled by an increase in the number of collectors in the city.
