New Town Plaza

Out of all the malls I’ve seen in Hong Kong so far, this one might really be my favorite. It’s a bit out of the way of the touristy area but overall still pretty accessible by subway or bus.
As a first timer, this mall is intimidatingly HUGE. I can’t even tell you how many levels there are because I just don’t know. I had dinner at one of the many restaurants on L8 but I feel like that wasn’t even the top floor (or maybe it was? Who knows.) The mall has all the mall usuals for me, American and European brands are all over the place so be prepared to have to WALK!
So why am I giving it only 4 stars? I loved this mall, I really did. But as my first time here I was completely lost. Above that, I had such a difficult time finding directories. You would think that in a mall of this size, signs and directories would be all over the place. But sadly no. So even though I loved all that this mall had to offer, I felt like it was missing something. Maybe if I had lived in Sha Tin for a while now and knew where each store was I would be able to give this mall a higher rating, but as a tourist, be prepared to get lost.

my most visited shopping mall in the past 3 years since I worked in the building next to it lol. extremely crowded no matter weekends or weekdays. therefore finding a place to eat is a chore even they hv more than 20 eateries to choose from. be sure to download their shopping mall app to «get tickets» at these restaurants in advance so u dun need to run around to each restaurant. so yea my fav outlets would be ding tai fung for xiao long bao, school food for Korean nibbles, ucc for their lunch sets, spaghetti house in phase 1 for lunch, ruby Tuesday, cocomo, rosie café, pizza express, pokka café, park view, lei garden etc. they hv shops such as Victoria secret, body shop, laura mercier, folli folli, nine west which I visit often haha!

If I had to name a capital for the New Territories in Hong Kong, I would say that it would be Sha Tin. And if I had to name its epicenter, that would be the New Town Plaza.
This shopping center is massive. It consists of two phases (Phase 1 and 3). Not sure what happened to Phase 2? Phase 1 is the main mall and is nine stories tall. It is connected to another mall, Citylink Plaza as well as MTR Sha Tin Station. A bus terminal is also right outside with buses to other parts of the NT.
New Town Plaza has a nice mix of retailers. There are high-​end brands as well chains that appeal to the masses here. Though it seemed like there were mostly clothing stores here. But apparently there is a tech floor (6^th) that I never got to check out even though I was here just about everyday of my trip. What New Town seems to lack are anchor department stores like shopping malls in the US have. There is one here called YATA in Phase 3, but that is the only one.
While New Town has many of the stores that you would find in Kowloon or Hong Kong Island, I kind of found shopping here to be kind of boring since I wanted to explore as much of HK as I could. Though a local would find that to be a plus since it is convenient.
The crowds here on weekdays can be bad, especially during rush hour. But weekends are just absolutely horrible. If you are travelling in a group, you definitely risk getting lost in the crowd.
If you live in the NT, New Town Plaza is the default shopping mall to go into the area. It is fine if you want to shop close by, but I prefer shopping at the malls in the city better. Just my preference.

New Town Plaza is probably in your checklist when you come to Shatin. You can find a large number of, if not most, things you want here, ranging from basics, food to outfit. Some floors, such as the 5^th and 6^th, are specialised for a particular type of items, be it sportswear or electronic gadgets. I can apply what I learnt in Economics in this case — agglomeration. From a consumer’s point of view, we can see the latest products here and easily compare the models and prices that various stores offer. We can save our time searching online as well — the staff of the stores are willing to help as long as you ask them.
Having lived in the district since I was born, I should definitely be considered as one of the witnesses of its changes. I remember a large fountain was located at the arena on 3/​F. My parents took lots of photos of us there when I was a small kid. In the past there were a number special stores. Mini Melts had a branch there and I always found it expensive though I loved eating that little ice cream. As a typical teenager, I loved taking photo stickers with my friends in the area specialised for Japanese items. However, the New Town Plaza has undergone drastic changes in recent years, which definitely upset most, if not all, residents living in this area. The symbolic places and typical local shops faded away and got replaced by some luxurious brands. The Music Fountain? It was removed and is now the central arena for various kinds of exhibitions. What about those bookstores like Popular and the Commercial Press? They now become the international brand-​named boutiques. Though they’re moved to the shopping malls — Home Square and Yata — nearby, I couldn’t find that feeling of searching for my reading paradise — finding an inspirational book and reading it page by page on a comfy sofa. Everything has become too commercial. When you walk out of the MTR station, what you can find are just brands, brands and brands, or, to be more accurate, brand-​named clothing, perfume, accessories or cosmetics. Those local features are just buried.
If I had to chance to choose, I’d prefer the old and grassroots one which is less prosperous. This is the collective memory of us — Sha Tin people. It’d be much more enjoyable to have dinner with my parents in a decent tea house rather than cramming with all those visitors just to take a look at the new trainer /​smartphone model.

I am not much of a new territories person, I am usually stuck on the Hong Kong island side, so for me, I would consider Shatin far, so clearly not out here every weekend. I do have some relatives who live out here though so once in a while, I will pay them a visit.
Whenever we visit them, we would most of the time end up at new town plaza for dinner.
I am quite impressed seeing how much this shopping mall has grown throughout the years. When I used to come to HK to visit relatives when I was younger, I would stay in Shatin so I would hang out there with my family, spending all day at the mall. Back then, it was an okay mall, not as much to see and very local. But the last time I visited, I was really impressed by the quality of shops here. They have grown a lot, now with most of the international brands in HK, they have restaurants of different calibre, they have a very adequate children’s section and play area, they have shops for young and old. It’s grown so much and the quality of shops seems to just get better and better. I can see why people would rave about this mall and if I lived closer, I’m pretty sure I would be here much more frequently.

New Town Plaza is probably my most-​visited mall due to its proximity to my house. New Town Plaza is pretty easy to navigate, in my opinion, and it’s quite well organized — for example, one section of the forth floor is all shoes and the fifth floor is devoted to sportswear. New Town Plaza itself is pretty big, and it’s connected to a LOT of other smaller malls, like Citylink, Shatin Plaza, Yata etc — so just when you think you’re done with it, you’re really not. You can literally spend a whole day in the area and not get bored!
New Town Plaza is great for both eating and shopping. No matter what your budget is, there’s something for you. Don’t want to spend more than $ 70 for lunch? The sixth floor has three inexpensive Japanese restaurants, or head to the first floor for a more varied fare. If you don’t mind shelling out a little more, you can’t go wrong with Lei Garden up on the sixth floor. As for shopping, there’s everything from H&M and Zara to Club Monaco and Moschino. If you’re really on a budget, go to nearby mall Citylink — the boutiques there are inexpensive but a lot of the clothes are tacky so you’ll need time to browse, and there are a ton of cheap eats like Eurogogo and Fairwood. You can try Yata (also known as New Town Plaza Phase 3) too, a mid-​range department store that’s kind of like Apita over at Tai Koo Shing. As for grocery shopping, in order of most to least expensive, there’s Citysuper, the Yata supermarket and Parknshop, which you can get to via a passageway near Agnes B on the third floor.
The one bad thing about NTP is that it is always pretty crowded, especially on weekends and public holidays. It’s a couple of train stops from the border so it’s a popular place for mainlanders to come and shop at. Don’t be surprised to see them wheeling in luggages and packing in their buys outside H&M. Besides this, NTP is a great place for shopping and I’d recommend it to anyone on this side of HK!