Many customers consider the items to be precious because of their uniqueness, and it takes time and luck to find them, she said.

"Sometimes, we ask our clients to leave their contact numbers if we fail to have the items they want to buy, and then we call them if we get the items later," Wong said.

"We hope people want to buy the old items because they really like them and are willing to accept their imperfections."

Wong said both she and Tang like vintage items that are no longer being produced. Such items are valued by collectors.

She said the embroidered dress she often wears is more than 30 years old. Also, the earrings she wears have been around since the 1980s, and one of the rings she wears was purchased in 1990s.

Tang said the products displayed and sold in their stores include watches, toys, Chinese-style garments, handbags, jewelry and adornments. "All the old items sold in the stores were actually produced in limited quantities, have been well-protected and have their certificates with production dates and producers' names, and therefore they have special significance," he said.

"They are being sold from several yuan to more than 10,000 yuan, depending on their scarcity, and most were produced between 30 and 100 years ago."

Tang said he once spent nearly 67,000 yuan on an old Rolex watch at a foreign antique shop when he traveled abroad, and Wong has purchased more than 200 handbags with famous brand names, all of which were produced in limited quantities in the previous century.

Tang said many of the items were actually made by hand and are of high quality.

Wong said she likes Guangzhou and has gotten used to the life in the open, tolerant city. Plus, it takes less than an hour to travel between Hong Kong and Guangzhou by high-speed rail.

She said she is planning to have her child go to public school in Guangzhou this year.