Dick Lam likes to reminisce about his childhood in Yuen Long, in an early kind of public housing. As a kid growing up in the 1970s, he loved visiting the store to buy snacks and hang out with neighbours and friends.
"Life in the past was very blissful. People were simple and generous," he recalls.
Dick's passion for collectibles started in primary school when he collected small items like stamps and coins. When he was older, he searched for vintage items from around the world. But it was a Taiwanese collector who inspired his love of Hong Kong collectibles.
"He asked me: 'As a Hongkonger, why don't you collect things from your home?' Since then, I started looking for things related to the city," he says.
He has found most of his items through Facebook groups, websites like eBay, and markets in Sham Shui Po.
He says his collection could educate young people about the past. "Here, every item carries an interesting story."
For example, the chairs and cupboard in Loffy Store's living room tell a story about the city in wartime. Dick says these pieces were from a man who was leaving Hong Kong. When Japan invaded the city during World War II, his grandmother hid in the cupboard to escape the army.
Dick's daughter Loffy agrees. "My friends keep asking my dad about the items' history. One time, he showed us some old tin toys, and we were captivated."
Five things to know about
1. Collectibles are any things that people like to collect.
2. Often, collectibles are old things. When they were made, there were lots of them. But now, very few are left, so they have high value.
3. Many people collect old coins and stamps. These items can tell us a lot about history, and there is a big community of people who collect them and trade them.
4. Many people like to collect comics, and anything related to comic characters. The rarer the item, the higher its value. Old toys were often made of metal, not plastic, and this makes them collectible.
5. All kinds of art are collectible too. You can see some collections of all these things in museums and special shops.
