Della Soul Records
Della Marie Levi, Owner
LOCATION
1220 Kalamazoo Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49507
Every community has a feel.
Della makes sure this one has a sound.
Della Soul Records is a record store, which is true, but it's not the whole story. The albums are the reason people walk in for the first time. What keeps them coming back is that Della built the place so you'd want to stay in it.
She didn't change careers so much as change rooms
Before any of this, Della was a social worker. Years of it, spent with children and families in the middle of whatever they were going through, doing the kind of work that asks a lot and doesn't hand much back.
Then she pivoted and turned what she'd always loved into the job. DJing. Records. A shop with her name on it. On paper that's a big pivot, and in practice it isn't one at all, because the work never actually changed. It's still community engagement. It's still trying to leave people better than she found them. That's not a business model for Della; it's just who she is, and the store is only the latest place she's doing it.
The records
A Tribe Called Quest. Phil Collins. Anita Baker. The Roots. The vinyl here is curated rather than just stocked, pulled together by someone who came up loving this music and still does, which means the crates reward digging, and Della will talk you through any of it. Longtime collectors find something. So do kids who've never seen a turntable work.
Where the love came from
Watching her father is how she learned what music does.
He'd come home from work, put a record on, pour a drink, and let the day come off him, and she was there for it all. That's where she figured out music is transformative. It can put you back in a place and a time when you were happy. It travels further than language does, too, which is why you can be overseas among people who don't speak a word of yours and find they know every word of a song that got to them the same way it got to you.
That's what she's chasing with the store. Impacting people one moment at a time.
More than a register
The store isn't built around transactions. Along with the vinyl, the shelves carry art, jewelry, and crafts from local makers, so money that comes through here stays close to home, and small businesses get a shelf they wouldn't have otherwise. The rest of the room is given over to games and places to sit, because Della would rather you stay a while than move through fast.
What happens here
Shoppers come in for albums. Artists come through for book signings. Kids come in trying to work out what even is a record store, and leave knowing. Storytellers turn up for the micro events, and people show up to sit in the culture with each other for an evening.
Learning, adventure, discovery. Don't get it twisted, this is still a place where the local economy grows. It's just that Della refuses to make it only that.
Come sit a while.
Boston Square. Flip through the crates, stay for whatever's happening.
