Dee Tang shows visitors a McDonald's toy. [Photo by Zheng Erqi/chinadaily.com.cn]

While many young people are pursuing fashion, a couple from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region operate two stores selling old items in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Located in Guangzhou's busy Yuexiu district, the stores that Dee Tang and his wife, Candy Wong, run are welcomed by residents and visitors alike, particularly those who were born in the 1970s and 1980s.

Perhaps, those people tend to be nostalgic, Tang said. Both Tang and Wong were born in the 1980s.

Old toys are displayed in Tang's store. [Photo by Zheng Erqi/chinadaily.com.cn]

"Many buyers come to the stores looking for significant items that jog their memories of childhood," Tang said.

Meaningful old items with strong individual characteristics are particularly welcomed, he said.

The products displayed and sold in the stores include old toys, watches, garments, handbags, jewelry and adornments.

"All the products were purchased by my wife and me when we traveled around the world in previous decades," Tang said.

"The old items are sold from several yuan to more than 10,000 yuan ($1,538), depending on their scarcity, and most were produced in the previous century."

Tang said old does not simply mean secondhand products.

"All the old products sold in the stores were actually produced in limited quantities, have been well-protected and have their certificates with production dates and producers' names. Therefore they have special significance," he said.

Old toys are displayed in Tang's store. [Photo by Zheng Erqi/chinadaily.com.cn]

"Both my wife and I like old items that are no longer produced, and they have value for collectors," he said.

Tang said he once spent more than 80,000 HK dollars ($10,282) to purchase an old Rolex watch at a foreign antique shop when he traveled abroad years ago.

His wife has now purchased more than 500 handbags of different brands, all of which were produced in limited quantities in the previous century.

Tang said many old items were actually made by hand and are of high quality — usually the epitome of their era.