Lucille Vessa in her antiques store, perfectly located in Hong Kong for sourcing treasures from the region

Hong Kong's location on the doorstep of China made it the ideal location for native New Yorkers Lucille and Glenn Vessa to set up their fine antiques business.

Describing themselves as "serious collectors", and Mr Vessa being a certified antiques appraiser, the couple took over Honeychurch Antiques Ltd in Hollywood Rd, Central in 1973, after its elderly English owners retired.

With their specialist knowledge of Japanese and South East Asian pieces collected for their previous residences, they decided to immediately add pieces from these regions to the existing showroom repertoire.

"We realised that Hong Kong was in a perfect location for us; on the doorstep of China, from where we wanted to continually add to our collection, and a short distance from Japan, Thailand and Burma, to where we would also need to make regular trips," Mrs Vessa said.

She added that getting started in the business was easy, involving just a simple registration procedure for which Hong Kong is renowned.

Originally, Honeychurch traded mostly in English silver and furniture from British residents living in Hong Kong, as well as in Chinese prints and some jade and small ornaments. "The showroom was not packed with stock and the previous owners had a very scholarly approach to antique selling, which we liked," Mrs Vessa said.

The introduction of their new lines, however, soon saw need for expansion of the shop and with the extra space came an increase in staff. Honeychurch now employs seven full-time staff and three part timers.

The Vessas' customer base is comprised of around 50 per cent local clients, and 50 per cent tourists. Increasingly, wealthy mainland Chinese are now turning to Hong Kong's reputable antiques dealers in the belief that there is less chance to get stung with a fake piece.

"There are rogues in the antique world in every country but Hong Kong is unequalled in its selection of original Asian art from low to high-price pieces," Mrs Vessa said. "And the choice here is matched by a high number of reputable dealers."