1. From Sydney to Hong Kong (1900)
The story of Sincere Department Store begins with Ma Ying-piu (้ฆฌๆๅฝช), born in Zhongshan, Guangdong in 1860. Like the Kwok brothers who would later found Wing On, Ma emigrated to Australia as a young man, working on the New South Wales goldfields before building his fortune in the fruit trade.
Impressed by Sydney department stores such as Anthony Hordern & Sons and David Jones, Ma returned to Hong Kong in 1894 and, on 8 January 1900, opened Sincere (ๅ ๆฝ) with a group of fellow Australian-Chinese investors at 172 Queen's Road Central ().
It was the first Chinese-owned department store in the territory โ an estimated 10,000 people are said to have walked through its doors on opening day alone.
2. Key Retail Innovations
The name "Sincere" was chosen deliberately: Ma believed sincerity and trust, not haggling, should govern the relationship between shop and customer. This philosophy translated directly into practice:
No Haggling
Fixed prices replaced the bargaining expected in traditional shops.
Written Receipts
Every sale was recorded โ unheard of in Chinese retail at the time.
Female Sales Staff
Sincere was the first Hong Kong store to hire women as shop assistants.
Seven years later, in 1907, two friends of Ma's from his Sydney days โ the brothers Kwok Lok and Kwok Chuen โ followed his example and opened a rival store nearby: Wing On (ๆฐธๅฎ). The two companies would compete, and occasionally cooperate, for the rest of the century.
3. Shanghai Expansion & the "Four Great Department Stores"
Building on early success in Hong Kong and a branch in Guangzhou, Sincere opened a seven-storey Shanghai store on Nanjing Road in 1917 โ a full year before its old rival Wing On followed suit across the street. Together with Wing On, Sun Sun, and Sun Company, Sincere formed part of Shanghai's 'Four Great Department Stores'.
Sincere was also the first of the four to build a rooftop entertainment complex โ the "Sincere Paradise" โ with Chinese opera theatres, a ballroom, and billiard rooms, turning shopping into a full day's outing for Shanghai families.
4. Post-War Reshaping & the Present Day
Following the nationalisation of private business on the mainland after 1949, Sincere's Shanghai store closed in 1954, and the company consolidated its operations back in Hong Kong. In 1972, The Sincere Company Limited listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange โ two years after Wing On did the same.
Over the following decades Sincere ran department stores across Central (), Causeway Bay (), Mong Kok (), Sham Shui Po (), Tsuen Wan (), and Yau Tong ().
The retail landscape has grown harder in recent years. In January 2026, Sincere closed its Sham Shui Po branch after 30 years, leaving the chain with just two stores โ its flagship on Nathan Road () in Mong Kok, and a smaller shop on Des Voeux Road Central โ close to the site of its original 1900 store in Sheung Wan ().
More than 125 years after Ma Ying-piu's first store opened its doors, Sincere's name โ meaning honesty โ still hangs above a shopfront in the city where it all began.
