The State Of Independence – Northern Sounds 4 – Voodoo Soup Record Shop Belfast

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This is the fourth in a series of occasional articles about record shops in Northern Ireland, and the focus this time round is Voodoo Soup Records who can be found at – 17 Winetavern Street BT1 1JQ near Smithfield market Belfast.

Voodoo Soup takes its name from the Jimi Hendrix compilation album of the same name, and offers a pretty comprehensive stock of vinyl records in many genres, from Rock to Pop to Jazz to Blues, and many others. The store is well set out, neat and tidy, brightly lit (1) and every item is nicely presented and clearly priced. While Voodoo Soup does sell CDs the main focus is very much on vinyl.

It was also nice to see in these Covid 19 days customer numbers limiting in force (4 only allowed inside at any time), a sanitising station at the door, and staff wearing face masks. I felt safe within the store and I appreciate the efforts made to keep myself and other customers as safe as is possible – I wore a face mask myself to do likewise.

Marion who works in the store is friendly, very approachable, passionate, knowledgeable and justly proud of Voodoo Soup, very much her baby in regards to how she runs and maintains it. The store has a nice audio system to let customers hear a record they might be interested in purchasing.

I was delighted to see that Voodoo Soup has a very important, very necessary item in the store, a record cleaning machine (no lighter fluid cleaning here, applied by a dirty rag, thank goodness) and a machine of good quality. It never fails to amaze me the number of record stores that don’t – shame on you – and well done Voodoo Soup.

The store is spilt into Four sections with the the majority of the stock downstairs, in clearly set out areas for each genre, with a main front section, a short mid linking section (including stair access to the bargain bin room above) and a rear back area.

Front Section

Middle Section

Rear Section

 

One thing I spotted quickly first time I visited the store was a ‘just in section’, to the left of the front pay desk. Once again something absent from many record shops, and a real blessing to those that visit very regularly, in some cases daily as it allows quick access to everything new, rather than having to trawl through all the racks to find new stock.

There is also an upper floor area, a sort of  large vinyl bargain bin room, and this is very much worth a visit. On a previous visit I picked up two nice albums from here (2)

Bargain Bin Floor

Along The Walls

Stock pricing through out the store seemed fair to me, and certainly more realistic than some other stores I have visited over the years. Nothing much worse than seeing poor condition/low desirability items being crazily overpriced, something very common among thrift stores and in some greedy record stores.

Final Thoughts. 

I very much enjoyed talking with Marion, a real pleasure, on the day I visited (not the first time I hasten to add) and during this visit I took her up on her previous kind permission to photograph the store, and review it – not everyone is so accommodating, something I have found out during my travels. Marion’s particular genre passion is electronica and dance music, but her knowledge extends well beyond those styles of music.

If you are in Belfast for a visit, or live in Northern Ireland, Voodoo Soup Records is definitely well worth a visit (easy to find behind the Castle Court Shopping Centre, just leave via the rear exit) and gets a very solid recommendation. I look forward to visiting again.

 

Rob

 

Voodoo Soup Records 

(1) For the life of me I do not understand why so many record shops are dark, dirty holes. I get it that often the buildings they are housed in are of older stock, and therefore not as shiny and new looking as stores on the mainstreet (rents having much to do with that) but not being able to see stock clearly, or be able to examine a possible purchase, plus battling untidy clutter, layers of grime, does not pass as character in my view, but rather a real nuisance, and a reason not to visit again.

 

(2)

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