Hong Kong Pokemon card revival sees adults collecting for nostalgia, competition and cash
In Hong Kong, a surge in trading card shops is fuelled by adults who turn to Pokemon cards to spark childhood memories, and for investment
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.
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.