Record Store Profile: Suffragette Records TAS

What is your store called? 

Suffragette Records

Where are you located? 

We’re in Battery Point, Lutruwita/Tasmania and online here.

Tell us about the people behind the scenes?

We’re a family-run business. Lauren dreamed up the business and makes sure everything keeps ticking, while Oberon manages most of our preloved records, and Audrey makes most of our video content. Everyone (including our younger daughters) takes turns working behind the counter. While we’re relatively new to music retail, we have had life-long contact with the music industry, and passion for music. We also have previous experience with collecting and cataloguing, design, research, online retail and content creation amongst us, so we feel lucky to have stumbled across an idea that incorporates all of that!

When and why did the store open? 

We opened in September 2022 and sell only music by women. We wanted to create an inviting space to showcase great music, whilst addressing persistent inequality across the industry. We celebrate and highlight the incredible contributions women have and continue to make to music, with a catalogue that focuses on women-led bands and female artists. We think it’s important a broad range of voices are given space to be heard and celebrated in the current global political climate. We also like encouraging people to support musicians in tangible ways, so they can keep making great music.

What do your customers most know you for?

Our amazing catalogue, our inviting little shop space, and our social media which promotes and celebrates music by women

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

This year’s biggest seller so far has been local musician, Cathy Diver’s debut album Everything’s A Car.

What is the most popular evergreen title? 

Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black continues to be our biggest selling evergreen title, while Chappell Roan’s Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess and Emily Wurramara’s Nara have sold the most copies overall.

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

Community! We love welcoming all kinds of people into our store and sharing enthusiasm for great music. We’ve had some amazing conversations with all sorts of people, whether they’re visiting Tasmania, or our gorgeous regulars. We’ve introduced people to all kinds of music that the algorithms might not have fed them, and we’ve supported local artists. And we’ve hosted some amazing live in-store performances. Connection and community building are what it’s all about!  

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

By selling vinyl records, we’re really selling a romantic idea and an experience – otherwise we’re selling something that most people can stream for free. That can be a challenge when times are tough for our customers! Then there’s the saturation of the market with online-only stores without overheads and with no regular retail pricing, which means people will often try and find a cheaper deal elsewhere. Finding the sweet spot between pricing things as low as possible while also being able to pay for new records (to support more artists), and pay the rent, can be a constant battle.