If you're in Hong Kong and looking for cheap toys for the kids, Tai Yuen Street Market is the place to go. And cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad quality either.. they might be original Mattel or Disney toys, just sold at wholesale prices. After checking-in our hotel on the first day of our family vacation, we took the MTR train down to find Tai Yuen Street Market. It's quite easy actually as it's located in the popular Wan Chai district at Hong Kong Island. I like to go to the flea and wholesale markets on the first few days of the holiday as things there tend to be cheaper, so if we see something we want we can buy immediately or take note of the prices for reference at other shops later :P Called the "Toy Street" by locals, Tai Yuen Street features a good range of popular character toys like Barbie, Sofia the First, Peppa Pig, Toy Story, Thomas the Tank Engine etc., bath toys, stationery, swimming floats, as well as a variety of classic “Made in Hong Kong” toys.
As most of the toys are located only in the first few shops on the left at the beginning of the street {if you're coming in from Johnston Road}, I don't think this is as good a toy street as some others we've seen where every shop sells toys, but it is still a paradise for the kids, and parents going toy-shopping on a budget. The rest of the shops sell other clothes, beauty products, food and other knickknacks. I heard you can bargain here but when I tried, the shop keepers didn't bulge and kept saying they were already selling very low. Not as open to it as the night market stall owners. Perhaps I wasn't aggressive enough haha {see my tips on bargain-hunting in street markets} but I didn't want to stay too long there as it was reaaaaaaally hot in HK that day!! Goodness, must remember not to come back during summer months. The Rainbow Loom craze is in Hong Kong too and we saw lots of colour rubber bands and loom kits. Most likely fake, but all sold really, really cheaply.
I mentioned before that you might not want to buy fake bands and looms just for the prices in Singapore because the price difference from authentic products isn't that big. However, in Hong Kong, the price difference is really noticeable, and you can get rather cool options like UV colour-changing bands or the beaded/bubble bands that you can't find easily back home. Actually, the real Rainbow Loom company doesn't even manufacture them. All kinds of dolls for boys and girls~ So many things to look at... where to begin?? Lil Pumpkin is a good girl and even though she likes to browse and play at toy stores, she hardly ever asks us to buy anything for her... unless she really, really wants it. We were looking out for her current fave Disney Frozen dolls & play sets for her but alas, didn't see any. They had bags, cutlery, water bottles etc. though. So strange and disappointing! I've seen quite a lot sold online from the USA but why is it taking so long to come to our side of the world??!
In the end, we just got her the Sofia the First floating palace doll and play set. Shop selling robot figurines. Oh, if you're looking for Lego toys, this isn't the place though. I hardly saw many, if anything from Lego. I'll share with you another place to go for Lego in Hong Kong later {thanks for the tip, Eric!!}. There are Tomica toys... The street is pretty big with a much wider walking space compared to Ladies Market or Temple Street Market so going in with a stroller is fine. I'd recommend allocating about 2-3 hours to spend there, and to go on a weekday. Tai Yuen Street Market {太原街} Between Queen's Road East {皇后大道東} and Johnston Street {庄士敦道} Nearest MTR station: Wan Chai, Exit A3 Open daily, 7am - 7pm Read all our Hong Kong travel posts here.We're sorry, the page you were looking for isn't found here. The link you followed may either be broken or no longer exists. Please try again, or take a look at our
for the latest news and market data. You may also be interested in these pages: Report a broken link | I have a unhealthy fascination with Chinese LEGO knock-offs, and we've published several articles, like this one, about the rubbish that's available in markets across the far east in the past. I think it's because I find it incredible that the stuff, which violates so many intellectual properties, is being made at all. Brickset member woodywood currently resides in Shanghai so sees a lot of the junk first-hand. He's kindly sent me some minifig packs so I can see how bad they are for myself. Warning: this article contains disturbing images and strong language. First under inspection is JLB's (Jai Li Bo toys) Anna from Frozen. The box certainly looks attractive, and very LEGO-like. The contents, the figure and cards, are well packaged in heat-sealed bags. Unfortunately, that's all I have good to say about it. Once you open the packet it's immediately apparent what rubbish this is.
Now, when I watched Frozen I'm sure Anna was a fair-skinned girl with what the Disney wiki calls 'long strawberry-blonde hair' in ponytails and a long-flowing blue dress and red cape. I must assume that a different version was shown in China because this figure has a blue crop-top and an impressive tan... :-) As you can see the figure needs to be assembled from the cheap plastic parts, some of which are still on their sprue. The joints are loose and it's difficult to get the hair to stay on. A flower is thrown in for good measure. The best part of it is the trading cards... Next under the microscope is Star Wars Han Solo by Bom Bom. Again, the box, a good rip-off of a real LEGO one, and the packaging is not bad, but it soon becomes apparent that the photo on the front is that of the LEGO version of the figure, not the one in the box. The arms and hands are not pre-assembled and if I had to guess I'd say the plastic used is polystyrene rather than ABS. The parts are very badly moulded and have sprue marks in prominent places.
The hair fits better than on Anna, but once on it's impossible to get it off!. It bears a passing resemblance to the image on the box, but the printing is absolutely shockingly bad. Once again, the best part of the set are the cards, which have the appearance that they are part of some sort of game but the numbers and information is all rubbish. Collectors will want the whole set of them, I'm sure... Frankly they are complete and utter rubbish and I would not wish them on any child. Not only are they terrible quality and possibly made from unsafe materials, but in the case of Anna, in particular, the contents of the box bears no resemblance to what you think you're buying which can only result in disappointment. I know you won't need me to tell you this, but steer well clear! I really don't know why LEGO and Disney tolerates this stuff being made and sold, but as we have discussed before, I guess the legal framework to prevent it is not in place in China. Now, excuse me while I go and disinfect my LEGO room and banish this junk to the bin.