‘HMV is getting an upgrade in Hong Kong’: Buyer explains how he turned around failing business in two years and why vinyl is back

Within just two years of buying British music retail brand HMV’s businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore, Kelvin Wu, co-founder of private equity firm AID Partners, has turned the struggling brand into a profitable business by reinventing it as a lifestyle brand.
The company plans to officially launch its three-storey, 40,000-square-feet (3,716-square-metre) flagship lifestyle store in Hong Kong’s busy Causeway Bay on Friday. The store had a soft opening at the end of last month.
In between relaxing at its bar and restaurant, customers can purchase products such as headphones, bags, books, magazines and even drones on top of HMV’s usual offerings of CDs, DVDs and vinyl.
Although now a prominent business figure in Hong Kong, Wu hails from the Chinese mainland. He moved to the city as a child and grew up in a slum in Kwun Tong.
Wu discussed this and other issues, including his aspirations for the HMV brand, in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post’s Zen Soo.