Record Store Profile: Sonic Sherpa QLD

What is your store called? 

Sonic Sherpa

Where are you located? 

12/360 Logan Road in Stones Corner (essentially in the carpark of the Stones Corner Hotel), just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Brisbane CBD and online here.

Tell us about the people behind the scenes?

There are two of us - Simon Homer and Steve Bell. We’ve both been involved in the Brisbane scene for many years in various capacities: Homer owned the much-missed Brisbane CBD record store Skinnys for many moons (Belly worked there with him for years too) and operates the indie label Plus One Records (home to a fleet of great bands like Halfway, The Gin Club and Mexico City). Belly managed bands for years and was also the editor of Time Off / The Music for the best part of a decade, and these days co-owns indie label Coolin’ By Sound (Tape/Off, Velociraptor, Mick Thomas etc). 

When and why did the store open? 

We opened at the back-end of 2015 (details of 10th birthday celebrations to be announced in due course). After the sad demise of Skinnys a fallow period followed for music retail and it unfortunately seemed like indie record shops were an anachronism, then Homer began unsuccessfully selling the vinyl revival for a couple of years without luck, until eventually the physical media resurgence achieved critical mass and Belly caved in.

What do your customers most know you for?

Hopefully it’s our passion for music and facilitating the community that builds around any half-decent local scene. We host instores most weekends (still using the same vocal PA that the countless hundreds of Skinnys instores ran through) and this is where the community manifests most, with music fans from all over town congregating to support our amazing local scene (as well as getting up-close-and-personal with our frequent interstate and overseas guests).

What is the most popular title you stock at the moment? 

The big sellers in recent months have been local releases by Ball Park Music, Beddy Rays and Tape/Off (I’ll include Mess Esque in there too even though they’re only half local - it’s a cracking album so we’ll claim it). Some overseas titles selling well of late are recent efforts by Viagra Boys and MJ Lenderman, while from interstate it’s been bands like The Cruel Sea and Last Quokka shifting units.

What is the most popular evergreen title? 

It seems that the two albums we’ve probably sold the most of over the journey are Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and Grace by Jeff Buckley - everybody who begins their vinyl journey starts by getting their faves on wax, and these two seem to be winning that race so far. On an Aussie level Tame Impala curate their catalogue well and all of their albums are constantly ticking over.

What is the best thing about running a record store in 2025? 

Apart from the inherent joys of sitting in a room surrounded by music and getting to bang on about bands you love all day, honestly it’s watching the increasing hordes of youngsters discovering the benefits of the physical music experience - how the artwork, the lyrics and credits, that warm fuzzy feeling you get by financially supporting your favourite artists (especially on a smaller independent level) and even the immersive nature of playing a record (dropping the needle and hearing those welcoming crackles) all dramatically enhance the listening experience. We still love the instores as well, having cool bands play a full set in the space you’ve provided will never get old.

What is the hardest thing about running a record store in 2025?

Apart from the completely different musical landscape we find ourselves in now - competing with free streaming and instant accessibility to almost all of the music in the world - which makes the ongoing viability of indie record stores almost a miracle, it seems the biggest threat we face is the increasing price of records which is threatening to price many punters out of the market. Some of these increases are inevitable due to inflation and the rising cost of components needed to manufacture vinyl, but there’s also an element of greed from some labels who seem hell-bent on gouging as much money from the revival as they can, while they can. Also the advent of online sales is awesome in protecting our bottom line, but it seems comparatively soulless picking and packing records for people you’ll never meet in the flesh. For the most part though slinging wax remains an awesome and enriching experience, otherwise we wouldn’t be here!