Crossgar man takes Chance with move to Hong Kong... 26 years later opens superstore

Crossgar man takes Chance with move to Hong Kong... 26 years later opens superstore

22 April 2020

AT the age of 18 and without a word of Cantonese, Richard Bowsie left his family and friends behind in his home village of Crossgar for a life of adventure in Hong Kong.

Twenty-six years later and now a married father of two, Richard has found love, happiness as well as a successful career as the owner of two second-hand furniture stores in the huge cosmopolitan city with over seven million inhabitants.

He and his locally-born wife, Mavis, run 2nd Chance Furniture that provides shoppers in the city and online across the world a virtual Aladdin’s Cave with thousands of unique and affordable items - ranging from lacquered tables to pool tables, Chinese vases to Balinese drums.

While other young ambitious men were told to ‘go west’, Richard went east, finding Hong Kong to be every bit as much the land of opportunity as the United States.

The father of eight year-old daughter Kailey and son George, who’s coming five, literally changed his life in three days when he made the decision to fly to Hong Kong.

From working as a lifeguard at the Tropicana centre in Newcastle and at the former Down Leisure Centre, the former student of the High School, Ballynahinch, had been close to completing his BTec qualification in Leisure Management at the former Newcastle College of Further Education.

He ped out of his course a few months shy of graduation due to bullying. While his parents, Margaret and Ken, a well-known architect, were shocked at their middle son’s decision, they were not surprised.

He recalled: “I had a friend who had travelled to Hong Kong three months previously. During a phone call he told me that the new international airport was under construction and work was easy to find. Three days later I arrived.

“I decided to go by myself as I had been trying to find an exciting job at home for a while but kept being told I was too young for the roles or lacked experience. My parents knew I was ambitious and how frustrated I was becoming with my career ambitions being knocked back all the time.”

Richard admitted he hadn’t a clue what to do once he arrived and took a bar manager’s job as an interim position as many of the airport workers drank there.

His first job at the airport turned out to be with the Northern Ireland company, Lagan Construction Group, before going to another Belfast-based company, Rotary International, with which he worked for two years.

“I felt excited and nervous all at the same time when I first moved to Hong Kong,” said Richard.

“The first thing that struck me was the heat, after leaving cold and damp of home. Arriving in 32 degrees and high humidity was certainly a shock to the system, despite having been on family holidays to France most years with my family and once to America with a cross community group. The heat in Asia was a massive shock.”

Having grown up in a rented manse on the Rademon estate, Richard swapped a quiet rural existence for the hustle and bustle of the global port and major commerce centre. It was still under British rule and would remain so for another three years before it was handed back to China.

Richard said: “Language was the biggest shock but I made it my mission to learn the language and enrolled in YMCA lessons but also managed to pick it up from also working alongside locals.”

It wasn’t long before Richard felt confident enough to start out his own business, an electrical supply company which employed 148 staff.

He said: “I knew after the first few months that Hong Kong was going to work for me, if you worked hard, nothing could hold you back, age was not an issue here. Opening a business here was very straight forward, just need a bank account and register an address.”

He met his wife Mavis during his first month in the city and the two have been together ever since.

They opened their first store in 2006 in the after seeing a large amount of good furniture being thrown away each week and were determined to do something that would reduce the waste and help the environment. Within months, they had outgrown this store and relocated to  their current 10,000 sq ft premises in Tuen Mun.

The couple has recently opened a second, 5,000 sq ft premises in Chai Wan which is closer to the busy capital.

Fluent in Cantonese for many years, Richard has seen Hong Kong go through many challenges, not in the least with the recent coronavirus pandemic.

“Hong Kong has handled the virus very well, having been through SARS and bird flu before,” said Richard. “As soon as we heard there was an issue over the border in China, Hong Kong went straight into prevention measures before even being advised to. Now everyone wears masks and observes hygiene measures.”

The preventative measures must have been successful as the city recorded zero deaths on Monday for the first time since the outbreak before Christmas.

While the move to Hong Kong was the right one for Richard, he still misses home and his brothers and sisters, Simon, Gillian, Laura and William.

He said: “I miss the food, the greenery and, of course, my family who are all still in Northern Ireland. I miss being close to home as I have lost family members and grandparents.

“But we come home as often as we can. Mavis and the kids love Crossgar, especially AJs Diner. They love the Rademon estate where we lived beside, walks down the Church Road to Kilmore and the open green fields. We have very few here in Hong Kong and any we do have are full of mosquitos.”

Home is always on Richard’s mind, as is his business.

He adds: “Next for our business is hopefully more expansion as I would like to start exporting furniture to other countries such as Northern Ireland. I have discussed this with some Co Down firms in the past, so watch this space.”