Austin’s Soul Revival: Inside the Gospel Record Shop Turned Community Café

There’s something poetic about a space that once spun vinyl now brewing coffee—still serving the same purpose: bringing people together.

On a quiet stretch in Austin, a once-forgotten storefront—boarded up, gutted, and left to time for nearly two decades—has been reborn. What used to house New Sound Gospel Records & Tapes, owned by the late Mr. Lee Johnson, is now a warm, multi-level café humming with gospel, soul, and something else you don’t hear enough of these days: community.

The original penny tile floors? Restored.

The vintage sign? Back up where it belongs.

The spirit? Never left.

The Follett family—Andrew, Hannah, Caleb, Evelyn, Micah, and Amelia—aren’t hospitality veterans or corporate transplants chasing the café boom. They’re neighbors. After more than a decade in nearby Oak Park, they moved into Austin in 2021, drawn closer to their church, school, and daily life. What they found was a neighborhood rich in history, resilience, and a hunger for shared space.

That hunger turned into an idea.

And that idea turned into a full-blown resurrection.

The building they purchased? A shell. No plumbing. No electricity. Just bricks, broken windows, and the kind of decay most developers would bulldoze without a second thought. But instead of erasing what was there, they leaned into it—preserving the legacy of a Black-owned gospel record shop while reimagining its future.

And it wasn’t done alone.

Neighbors, tradespeople, friends—this is the kind of project that only works when a community decides it matters. The result is a café that feels less like a business and more like a living room for the block, complete with indoor seating across multiple levels and an outdoor patio built for Chicago summers.

The menu hits that sweet spot between comfort and craft. The Folletts roast and brew their own coffee, pour a wide selection of teas, and partner with Trini’s Tasty Pastries for a lineup that includes cinnamon rolls, biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, paninis, and house-made soups that feel like they belong on your grandmother’s stove.

But the real mission goes beyond the menu: every dollar of profit cycles back into neighborhood charities. This isn’t just coffee with a cause—it’s coffee as infrastructure.

And maybe that’s what makes this place hit different.

In a city where development often forgets the people it’s supposed to serve, this café is a reminder: sometimes the most powerful thing you can build is a place to sit, sip, and stay awhile.

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