Hong Kong’s 10 best record shops: it’s a vinyl countdown
With vinyl making a comeback and International Record Store Day coming, we list the shops that would satisfy the most eclectic of analogue fans
Anyone who’s been into a HMV store in Hong Kong lately will have noticed that vinyl records are quite a big deal once again.
Huge swathes of the music chain’s local outlets are now devoted to the 12-inch analogue wonders, and flicking through the selections you’ll find vinyl versions of the latest pop and indie releases, reissues of rock and jazz classics and (perhaps unexpectedly) a huge range of second-hand records mainly imported from Japan.
During the past decade vinyl has witnessed an astounding renaissance, and in the US alone, sales of records last year grew a massive 30 per cent to just under 12 million discs. This figure may only represent 5 per cent of all album sales, but it’s still an impressive achievement for a format most people believed had been killed off by the digital revolution.
Since 2007, this resurgence has been celebrated by International Record Store Day, a time to show appreciation for the many record dealers who toil in relative obscurity and, more often than not, poverty, to keep vinyl obsessives happy.
This year International Record Store Day falls on April 16 – and what better way to celebrate it than with visits to 10 record stores around Hong Kong, where with a bit of digging you will probably unearth some gems not found on the shelves at HMV.
Vinyl Hero