Travel – Hong Kong 2007 Pitstop 1: CTMA Centre @ Mongkok

The first pitstop for my Hong Kong trip would also be my favourite toy destination. That was my resolve while I was on the ferry heading to the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui. And this location is none other than CTMA Centre in Mongkok. To be exact, it is at the corner where the end of Sai Yeung Choi Street South meets Dundas Street. It was certainly a silent sense of joy when I saw the neon-light signs of CTMA Centre again.

CTMA Centre houses many toy shops… as well as stores for ladies wear. And this is a wonderful mix of store variety… in my opinion at least. If you are heading for CTMA Centre with your wife/girlfriend in tow, you can be sure that the ladies will be able to shop while you take in the sights of the toy shops’ glass displays. In short, you should not have the problem of a bored female companion pressuring you to get out of the toy store! Isn’t that what we want? Shop in peace? Woohoo!

I would consider the major toy tenants here to be Toy Hunters and Superman Toys. They are just twice the size of the other toy shops here. Toy Hunters are the distributors for Hot Toys figures. They usually update their shop display with the latest Hot Toys releases. In Sept 2005, it was the Apone-Vasquez Alien 12″ figures. This time, it was Ripley and the rest of the remaining Marines. It’s been a while huh. Other figures on display were Robocop 3, Rocky, T2 Endoskeleton and other figures slated for release during this period. Other stuff on display include Sideshow’s products. I took in the complete shock of how big Jabba’s throne would be when I saw it in the shop’s display. There was also the Alien Queen at the back of the shelve! Ooo… delicious!

Superman Toys is … a bigger shop with plenty more walking space and glass displays. The average toy shop here is pretty cramp as every inch of space is used for putting a toy on display. I remembered buying Guyot from the Guyver series from Superman Toys back in 2005. Superman Toys can also be accessed from a stairway on the side of the building facing Dundas Street.

Shops in CTMA Centre carry a huge variety of toys from 1/6 figures, chogokins, Saint Seiya, Masked Riders, Ultraman, Macross, Gundam kits, Master Replicas, small collectibles and many others. It would be wise to scout out all stores before confirming the decision to buy. I checked all stores for my Takara Masked Rider No. 2 figure(including places outside CTMA Centre) before buying from a store here which had a price of 1280 HKD. Toy Hunters quoted me 1585 HKD. Do the maths and you know the difference! And remember to visit the basement as the 2 floors below have more toy shops than above.

CTMA Centre ranks as the No. 1 spot for hunting toys in Hong Kong in my opinion. There are many stores housed within it allowing lots of browsing and comparison of prices. It’s centrally located in the bustling Mongkok and is about 2 mins walk from the nearest Mongkok MTR exit. If you are having a problem deciding which toy to buy with your budget, you can ponder over a dessert in the Xu Liu Shan store a stone’s throw across CTMA Centre. If you only have time for one place to shop for toys, CTMA Centre is probably the best bet!