Love coming to this little shop in The Sino Building. The owner is a good soul and has a very…read morecurated collection of music. If you love the ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Tindersticks etc... You'll be at home her. Chamber Pop, minimalist, early synth pop, film scores and dream pop you'll find a home here.

As I have often said about record shops these days- how are they making money? I mean with the…read moreadvent of MP3, iTunes and all the other channels in which we could have music for very little or no money at all; who is buying CDs nowadays? Turns out, quite a lot. Now Hong Kong Records is not your old stuffy CD store, they have reinvented themselves extremely well in providing a wide range of products in the store- DVDs, video games, magazines and even toys could be found in the shop. This must be one of the changes that has kept it alive for as long as it has. For me in particular, Hong Kong Records makes a great effort into making Classical and Jazz music lovers feel special. They have always had a separate section for Classical and Jazz music which is glassed off from the rest of the shop. that way you could enjoy your music without the new fangled stuff disturbing your peace from the main section of the store. The staff at these sections really know their stuff as well and they were able to find the album I need however obscure that album label may be. I think in general- the scale, the products, the fact that the shops are always a nice place so be- I think that's why they have survived that long and why they will be here to stay.

I hate to admit, but actually Im also a creature of habits. There was a time in my life that I have…read moreto go to city u like 3-4 times a week; it is no surprise that I would walk around festival walk before or after the rehearsals in city U. Normally there are 3 stops in this level of festival walk and Hong Kong records normally is my 2nd checkpoint before spending like forever in Parson's next door. Another confession I would like to make is that i dont normally buy CDs for music; a logical question to ask now would be: why on earth do I have to visit the place?? So this brings us back to the first statement that I am a creature of habits and I have been visiting this place since high school until uni; well...another more legitimate reason is that it is always good to keep yourself updated with the hits in different music charts and this is a good place to gain info regarding the latest release of albums. Other than music albums, there are also dvds of movies and drama series for you to choose from; that is to say if you are indifferent to pop music, there will still be sections that might interest you. Now you see why I have developed such a habit of visiting this place when ever i go to festival walk.

My cousin recommend this shop to me after finding out that I'm a huge K-Pop fan. I've been here…read moremore than a few times to buy albums and photo books. The photo book that I had been looking for was out of stock and I was lucky to find it at this store. However, the price had been jacked up and I paid a pretty penny to secure the photo book. Most recently, I had inquired about an album but they were sold out. My guess is that they only stock a certain amount and may not reorder. I see on the window of the storefront there's lists of new albums that will be releasing soon and I believe you can preorder with them.

Popular is a chain bookstore that originates from Singapore and has locations in several Asian…read morecountries and Hong Kong. This location is on the third floor of Pioneer Centre in Mong Kok. The store is moderately sized, not on the scale of Eslite. The books sold here are in Chinese, but some of them (ex. cookbooks) have English translations in them. I did not see any magazines or newspapers, so don't come here for those. They do carry a selection of music and DVDs though it is not on the scale of HMV. Though these days, the selection there is getting smaller. And the offerings do not seem to be the most current. Since I can't read Chinese and the entertainment selection did not appeal to me, what garners three stars is their selection of stationery. The stationery here seemed mostly imported from Japan or Japanese inspired. What appealed most to me is their selection of imported Japanese pens. There is plenty varieties to choose from and they have test papers for you to scribble on to see if the pens are for you. They are slightly marked up, but not by much. Certainly not double the price like at one bookstore here in Seattle. If you are looking for Japanese stationery, check out Popular. It is the main reason I would come here.

We were actually in pursuit of a greeting card to send to someone for their birthday. Yelp guided…read moreus to this bookstore. On a Sunday, we had to make it through the maze of sales guys pushing condos before boarding the escaltors to get to the 3rd floor, but other than that, the bookstore provided what I was looking for. Not a big selection of greeting cards, but some. This store is half bookstore (not in English for the most part) and half gift/office supply store (wrapping paper, notebooks, pens/pencils, pads, toys, themed product lines of stuff, music CD's, puzzles, etc). Not a bad bookstore, but not the best either. Seems to be a chain of sorts.