Hot Deal: Take Two

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There's something about a shop plastered with photos of pixie-faced celebrities flashing V-signs that makes you covet a pair of their cast-off feathered jeans or a once-worn magenta mohair sweater. At least, that's what Charlene Choi Tsoek-jin—the younger half of the misnamed Hong Kong Canto-pop pair Twins—hopes fans will do in her new vintage clothes store, Low B Club. "I've always wanted to design my own clothes but I don't have the time," says Choi. Opening up a fashion store was the next best thing. "Since we only wear our clothes once or twice and they're quite expensive, I thought it'd be a better deal to sell them off," she adds. The Twins' cuddly image has helped sell everything from music videos to computer printers, and this latest venture tries to woo Hong Kong shoppers who these days may be more interested in saving than splurging on luxury clothes.

Though fans will be disappointed to discover that Choi and her other half, Gillian Ching Yan-tung, rarely man the store themselves, the duo's image brings in a varied crowd. "I think we're more upbeat than most second-hand clothes stores in Hong Kong, and we appeal to a wide age-range," says shop assistant Ivan Fok. "We've had fans as young as eight in here, as well as people in their forties."

Set in the shopping mecca of Kowloon, Low B Club offers a mixed bag. Marked-down labels like Moschino and Helmut Lang (slightly worn shirts from $26; dresses around $100) nestle alongside celebrity cast-offs and funky Japanese imports handpicked by Choi. Those more interested in memorabilia than street wear can ogle the jeans Nicholas Tse wore on MTV.

While Hong Kong's economic woes have given a boost to the city's thrift culture, Low B Club's vintage chic may well have a tough tussle ahead—discerning shoppers may not take kindly to being seen at a place whose name means "Low IQ" in Cantonese—even if it comes from an inside joke between a pair of pop princesses.