A young pastry chef makes the famous Shao Yong Feng sesame pastry at the China Time-Honored Brand Exhibition in Hangzhou. - Xu Wenwen

Hangzhou is the home of famous brands of scissors and knives, brush pens, cloth shoes, pastries and many other items that were known throughout China for their good quality.

They were showcased - along with other great Chinese brands - this week at the China Time-Honored Brand Exhibition.

Most of Hangzhou's time-honored brands were once on Zhongshan Road M., which is undergoing renovation. One stretch of the road will reopen late this month in time for the National Day holiday from October 1 to 8.

Some brands will be present on what has been renamed Royal Street of the Southern Song Dynasty, dating back around 1,000 years.

Zhongshan Road, a major commercial street, was once home to the Yu Feng Xiang small articles store, the Shao Yan Zhi brush pen store, the Bian Fu Mao cloth shoes store and the Jiu Zhi Zhai pastry store.

Since renovation of the road began, several old timers had to pull up stakes, either temporarily, or for good. Some relocated to other streets and some moved to another part of Zhongshan Road M., away from the core pedestrian zone.

The four-part renovation project runs 4.3 kilometers. The heart is a pedestrian street running from the Drum Tower to Xihu Avenue, around 1,000 meters. That's the part that will open for National Day holiday.

Some stores are back at their old addresses and will benefit from the traffic and tourists; others find their old address has been paved over or turned into something else.

The Yu Feng Xiang small articles store, the only time-honored small articles department store in Hangzhou, moved last year to 403 Zhongshan Road M., a less desirable and less profitable location. It cannot move back, since it has been displaced, and it has been unable to make ends meet since the move.

"The turnover in two days was just 2,700 yuan (US$396), while we need 200,000 yuan in monthly turnover to break even and maintain normal operations," manager Zhu Shuangquan told a local newspaper. To reduce costs, the store has to give more days off to workers.

The problem is shared by the Shao Zhi Yan brush pen store, which moved to Youdian Road, at the intersection with Zhongshan Road M. It used to receive dozens of tourist groups during the peak season, but that didn't happen this year.