Hong Kong shops shutter as months of protest darken economic gloom

A woman walks past a shop with a closing sale in Hong Kong, China, October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong jeweller Jun Lam has already closed one shop. His remaining outlet sits in an almost deserted shopping mall at the heart of a district regularly hit by sometimes violent protests that have rocked the Chinese-ruled city since June.

Restaurants, hotels and retail outlets like Lam's, many of which cater to mostly mainland Chinese tourists, form a central pillar of a small business sector that employs more than one million people in the city.