New Sound Cafe remixes former record shop
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Once a gospel record store, New Sound Cafe in Chicago's Austin neighborhood is filling a need for local meeting spaces.
What to expect: Across from the Austin Green Line stop and on the Oak Park border, the cafe's sleek design with exposed brick, modern pendant lamps and a mosaic tile floor invites more lingering rather than just grabbing coffee on the go.
- Originally home to New Sound Gospel Records & Tapes that closed about 20 years ago, the cafe features records on the walls, a vintage TV playing gospel concerts and the shop's original sign above an organ that once sat in the store.
Flashback: Hannah and Andrew Follett purchased the building at 5958 W. Lake St. in 2022, after it sat vacant for years. The couple wanted a place where their neighbors, church members and friends could gather in Austin.
- "Residents were frustrated...that they had to go outside of their neighborhood," Hannah tells Axios. They wanted "a meeting space...or just a place to even just spend their money."
The intrigue: The Folletts funnel profits from the cafe into neighborhood non-profits. They're currently partnered with Intentional Sports, a recreation complex that provides free and low-cost youth activities.
What's next: Success for the cafe isn't about hitting a revenue goal or even giving millions to non-profits, Hannah says.
- "I would love to hear a story of someone who was like, 'I was at this cafe once, and I ran into this person, and we started chatting. And now we do this together, we started this nonprofit, or we have this business, or we are lifelong friends.' That would be enough."