Depth of Hong Kong's retail gloom revealed in heavy decline of stocks

For a telling measure of just how tough Hong Kong retailers now have it, take a look at Sa Sa International Holdings Ltd.

Shares of the city's biggest cosmetics seller are down 70 percent from a 2013 peak and seven of 12 analysts tracked by Bloomberg are advising investors to dump the stock. Sa Sa warned last month that profit fell by more than 50 percent in the year ending March.

It's a far cry from the post-financial crisis boom years, when Sa Sa rallied more than 1,600 percent as Hong Kong and Macao shop-owners profited from an influx of tourists from the Chinese mainland.