A Conversation with A Hifi Bar Owner

This interview first appeared exclusively in our 2025 Print Lookbook. As we look ahead to our 2026 edition coming out next winter, I wanted to share this piece on our blog.

Peter: What is Mister Zhang's hi-fi bar and how did you come up with that project?

Danny: So, Mister Zhang’s is a Chinese listening bar. It kinda happened spontaneously because I was actually looking to move out of Cleveland. I was looking for at least like 8 months before this bar came up for sale, and I was gonna move to Detroit or Portland. I just couldn't find a place that made sense for me to move my store [Danny also owns a retail store in Cleveland] and then this bar came up for sale [In Cleveland] and I was trying to get people to buy it, because I was already leaving. But no one wanted it. And then I was just like, damn, should I do this? Should I just open up a bar? Yeah so I was like ‘f*** it’, let's do this. I guess I'm not moving to Portland or Detroit. So I ended up buying this bar in Chinatown [Cleveland]. It took me a few months to try to figure out what kind of bar, and then I was just thinking about all the stuff I love with the underground scene and music and hi-fi audio. And I was like, man, I should just open up a hi-fi audio bar.

Peter: Got it. So the bar and location came first, and then you came up with the hi-fi listening bar concept?

Danny: Yes, and when I was in Japan, I loved going to the listening bars there. And then I was just like I can't call it a Japanese listening bar because I'm not Japanese. That's when I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna create a Chinese listening bar because I am Chinese and I'll make it my own. And it doesn’t have to be one way or the other, it's just gonna be its own thing, my own thing. I'm mixing between Japanese style listening with hifi audio gear, but then with underground house and techno. It's all the stuff that I love.

Peter: What's the space going to be like?

Danny: I'm going with some Void sound systems because I always love how sexy they are, so I have a brand new custom Void system just for the space. There's gonna be speakers everywhere including the bathroom. I think my bathroom speakers are gonna sound better than almost anywhere else in Cleveland. I'd be like, yeah, ‘my bathroom sounds better than your whole main room.’ My favorite places are when I notice there's a speaker in the bathroom too. There's something about that that I'm always like ‘ man, that's tight.’

There is going to be the downstairs bar and sound room, and upstairs is going to be more of a lounge. But up front in the main room, there is also gonna be an espresso machine in there, and I want to make it possibly kid friendly in a way. I just wanna have a library of music, and books, a retail section, and all the things that I love. I'm mostly promoting analog. Analog, no digital. It's a place, it's a place where all the free minds can come and be sociable, and have analog experiences, something that we're missing nowadays.

(Pictured Above) Danny Zhang 

Peter: I’m not very familiar with Cleveland, do you think this type of space is lacking in that community? Do you think you will find success?

Danny: [Danny laughs to himself] To be honest, I don't know how it's gonna be. This place I'm building almost doesn't belong in Cleveland. It's too advanced. It's light years beyond the comprehension of people here. People here don't even know what the term hi-fi is when I say I’m a hi-fi bar. They're like, ‘what is that?’

But you know honestly, I think everywhere around the world could use one of these, but the ones that do exist out there [in the world broadly] tend to be the trendier version, I want this place to have more character. Everything's gonna be all quality. My goal is to have a sick record collection, a book collection, and I'm gonna have a sick liquor collection - I'm planning to have a sick collection of everything that I love. But also we can just hand you a beer or pour you a shot.

I’m actually making this thing because I've been so frustrated here [Cleveland] for so long. I need to be surrounded by very eccentric progressives, so I’m creating a beacon for them to come kick it. I have to build it and create this community, because it’s not here right now.

My philosophy is never to rely on any one business to provide. So, just being realistic, we'll see how it will be because you know that saying, ‘if you build it, they will come’ doesn't really work like that here. It will come, but it might take 10 or 20 years for that to fall into place.

I'm opening up the first Chinese sound bar in America, and it's just ironic it's in Cleveland. 

Peter: Why is quality so important to you? I know you have a business already. I run a business and numbers are hard, right? Money is always tight, But you're spending money on the good stuff, why do you think that sets you apart?

Danny: For my personal integrity. I can't feel good selling people shit or a bunk product. Just like drinking cheap alcohol will give you a cheap hangover, but if you drink good quality alcohol, you have a clean hangover. Which is something I think a lot of people don't understand either. My bottom shelf [liquor] is gonna be most people's top shelf. Because I mean there is quality liquor that isn't really expensive, and you can give that to people. For me it's a community space where I want everyone to be part of, it's not just for me to make money, because I feel like true happiness is shared with others. When everyone around you is making money, it just makes a better community.

I found that the biggest piece is having everyone excited to be part of this bar that's being built. I had to fire my last contractor and eat a big deposit. He wasn’t excited or very interested in the project and there were a lot of issues. I was like, why am I not having a person that's excited to open up this beautiful place and to be a part of it?

All my friends, like everything in here, everyone has a piece of making something.

I'm also here representing Chinese people. When people hear stuff is made in China, we get the bad rep that it is all cheap and low end. I grew up just loving quality things and dope stuff. And just to see that people look down on us just because certain cheap stuff was made in China, it’s tough. What people don't know, what I learned over the years of our business [running a retail business], it's not really China's fault. It's mostly the client. The client goes to outsource over in China to get stuff made, and the manufacturer will give the customer a quote, and then the customer won’t like it because they think it's too expensive. So the manufacturer in China will say the only way we can make it at the price you want is if we make it out of worse materials and cut corners. Then all these customers that are peddling my peoples wares are all mostly American, but for the average end user consumer, that's just beyond their comprehension. They'll just never understand it like that.

Peter: Thank you so much for sitting down with me, and good luck on the project! Anything else you want to leave us with?

Danny: I just want to encourage people to be more analog and go back to the roots, go support the record stores, go read some books, and hopefully that could influence the youth.

Danny plans to open Mister Zhang’s in the summer of 2025. At the time of this article his online presence is just starting, but can be found at:

 Website: misterzhangs.com

 Instagram: @misterzhangs