Singer becomes shop owner for a week after months of planning

Canto-pop singer Denise Ho Wan-sze recently turned into a temporary T-shirt entrepreneur. On April 1 she opened her concept store, 'hall1cshop', at the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay, which sold mugs and T-shirts, among other products. Designed to coincide with the launch of her latest album, Goomusic Collection 2004-2008, it was open for just one week. The store shut on Monday, the same evening Ho (below) unveiled a centenary exhibition for the sneaker brand Converse at Tsim Sha Tsui's Harbour City, which runs until April 13.

Ho expressed her sadness at seeing the shop fold.

'Yes, I am a bit sad that it is about to close now. I put a lot of effort into it.'

And she did. She had spent almost four months brainstorming ideas, finding the right location, supervising the decor. The store was very well received by fans and shoppers. Ho even had a specially designed USB flash drive sporting a cartoon figure of her, which sold out within 30 minutes of the shop opening on the first day.

Ho recorded a healthy profit from the store, which her family helped run. She said she would give her parents a big bonus or buy her father a car because they were so supportive and she wanted to pay them back for the help they gave her at the start of her career.