Sounds of The Universe: Plastic is still so fantastic

BY GEORGINA GAMBETTA
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

Our Support Your Local Trader campaign highlights central and west London’s special markets and shops. The London Weekly News supports our community in a way which benefits everyone. So we are starting as we mean to go on, by backing the small businesses which give life to the area and earn a living for their owners – as well as adding a special flavour to life for its residents.

A traditional music shop that sells vinyl records is thriving despite the rise of digital streaming services.

Sounds of the Universe carries the largest selection of Reggae, Dubstep, House, Disco, Funk and Soul, Brazilian, Latin, African and world beats in the UK.

The shop was opened in the late 1980s by Stuart Baker and now it also has a record label, Soul Jazz Records, attached to it.

The shop manager, Pete Reilly, said: “We’ve been going for more than 30 years, even when we started then there were people saying vinyl will soon become obsolete, its finished as a format etc.

“Fortunately, there have always been people who love vinyl, and vinyl sales have gone up considerably in recent years as lots of people discover, or rediscover, the joy of owning records.

“There are still people who come in who have been buying records from us since we started out in Camden but there have always been lots of young people coming in as well, and that’s true more than ever now as more and more young people get in to vinyl.”

Sounds of the Universe mainly deals in CDs and vinyl but they also carry
a wide selection of books, films and other merchandise.

Reilly said: “Our CD sales have taken a hit for sure, sales have gone down a lot, but most of our stock has always been vinyl, both new and second-hand, so this hasn’t affected us that much.

“And people are definitely becoming more and more open-minded and eclectic with their choices. It’s very common now for someone to buy a very diverse selection of music, especially young people.”

“The joy of listening to great music, the feeling you get from hearing something fantastic that you’ve never heard before, seeing people discover great music for the first time and you remember the buzz you got the first time you heard it is never going to go out of fashion and therefore neither will our shop.”

Sounds of the Universe is in Broadwick Street Soho and they are open from 10am-7.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 11.30am – 5.30pm on Sundays.

Sounds Of The Universe, 7 Broadwick street, Soho, W1F 0DA
Telephone: 020 7734 3430
info@soundsoftheuniverse.com