Freakbeat Thrives Through Loyalty, Unconventionality

Even its name is a blast from the past.

“Freakbeat is a very specific time of music from about 1967 in Europe,” Tom Gracyk said. “Later, it was also used for some freaky dance music by Egyptian Lover and some others.”

, the Sherman Oaks music shop with the hard-to-forget name, has made its home at 13616 Ventura Blvd. for the past nine years. And despite the boom of the digital age, which kick-started before Freakbeat even opened its doors, the unusually named record shop has made a living off of loyalty, to music and to customers.

Freakbeat manager Tom Gracyk and shop owner Bob Say began to develop their working relationship in the early 1980s as former employees at Moby Disc, a separate local record shop that has since gone out of business.

And just as the two men had worked together, they were released together.

“We kind of knew how to do it, so we thought let’s try it again after the owners at Moby Disc fired us,” Gracyk said. “They thought they could do it without us. But they lasted a year or so afterwards.”

Ironically, it was Gracyk and Say that were able to “do it” themselves, as they opened Freakbeat Records a year later. 

“That’s all we did,” Say said regarding the decision to begin another career in music. 

In 2003, Say and Gracyk cracked the doors to Freakbeat with the intention of becoming the local record store that Ventura Boulevard lacked, one that would sell to and buy from its customers. 

Early on, the task became uncovering what their customers desired most in a record store during a time where iPods and digital music were dominant. In addition, Gracyk and Say had to decide which music, unlike ‘freakbeat’ for example, was still relevant to locals.

“When we first opened, we weren’t sure what was still selling as far as records and CDs, so we tried carrying everything,” Gracyk said. “We learned pretty quickly that heavy metal didn’t do much for us. There weren’t a lot of people in that age range around here. So along the way, we’ve refined what we stock.”

“When we started, we would get some high school and college kids, but then we’d watch them grow up and they’d move away,” Gracyk added. “But it wasn’t like another batch of kids came behind them. The next generation was all iPods and computers.” 

Fortunately for Freakbeat, according to Gracyk, three years ago, there was a newfound excitement amongst the younger population regarding vinyl records, of which Freakbeat has thousands, from The Beach Boys to Fiona Apple to Stevie Wonder and beyond. 

“A few years ago, there was a vinyl age resurgence and we started getting more teens and college students and people in their 20s and 30s buying vinyl,” Gracyk said. “We thought it was a fad, but its been going on for three years now. Some people actually think it sounds better and some people are just broad-minded and will listen to music on anything." 

Today, Freakbeat has nailed down a successful formula in terms of catering to its customers. The store currently sells CDs, both new and used, music DVDs, vinyl records, and music magazines. They also purchase used music from customers, comparable to a separate music store giant.

“I would compare us most to Amoeba [Music],” Gracyk said. “We’re like a little, 1 percent version of Amoeba, maybe 10 percent. We have kind of a similar product mix, kind of a similar client base, same way of doing business, just on a much smaller scale." 

In their nine years at Freakbeat, as small business operators, both Gracyk and Say have been champions in rolling with the punches provided by the digital music age.

As the younger generation purchases less music in its physical form, Gracyk and Say have doubled their work efforts in order to remain relevant in the community.

“CDs definitely have gone down in value,” Gracyk said. “Some people still like them and they still sell okay. And about five years ago, the DJs and R&B market died for vinyl because the DJs all went digital via Serato. Basically, we virtually have no rap or hip hop vinyl anymore, much less funk and R&B than we used to.”

“It’s been very easy to look at it in a nine year frame,” Gracyk said. “In the last nine years, the price of what we sell our used CDs for is half of what it used to be, but our sales are still good, so we have to work twice as hard to sell as many CDs at half price. In some ways, we have to work harder now than when we opened, just to make the same amount of money.”

Gracyk revealed that a majority of sales come from used merchandise, mentioning that Freakbeat carries new music simply to cater to fans that enjoy new music.

“The used sales always have a lot more profit in them because you’re setting your cost,” Gracyk said. “We can offer people what we’ll pay and they say either yes or no, but we’re not paying more than we want to pay. With new stuff, you have to pay a certain price and you have a certain markup. And that markup is less than for used stuff. So used business definitely has a better margin and it’s much easier.”

Despite the trials of competing with the digital age, Freakbeat will always have two things going for itself that digital music sales do not, including digging up music from the past and providing it for its customers. 

“We figured out what they wanted to buy and we make sure we have that stuff," Gracyk said. "A lot of our business is reissues of old music. We have a lot of old stuff that never would have seen the light of day if it weren’t for CDs."

Second on that list: its name.

“It’s easy to remember and easy to find,” Gracyk said with a laugh. “You Google us, it comes up first.”