The high street is packed. But the government cannot raise interest rates to stop the boom overheating. So the boom has to be followed by a savage deflation to get prices back into line. It is tough being on a fixed exchange. Booms are bigger.
Busts are deeper.
It is exactly what is happening in Hong Kong today. It is even tougher when you cannot control your own interest rates . It means not just refraining from a having a pay increase every year. It might mean your members asking their employees to take a cut in wages. Wages have not fallen since the Great Depression.