Interview by Alan Ng & Jenkin Au
Words by Kevin Williams
Photography by Patrick Leung

justalilhype! made a visit to West Hastings’ Beatstreet Records, one of many DJ’s favorite store in the city. The store owner Avi talked about the origin of the store, outlined to us his critical moments of being in the retail business as technology changes the way people buy music and lastly on his love on vinyl. Being the only one working late on a Friday night, there were frequent customers coming in looking for Avi asking for various vinyls and tickets. Not only does this boutique hold a collection of rare records similar to a music library, but Beatstreet Records also serves as a staple to the local music community in providing a platform for providing concert tickets, rare mix-tapes and underground music.

Tell us the story about the origins of Beatstreet Records, starting back at 1996.

We started in 1996, quite a while ago now. We started in a small little store on Alma Street in Kitsilano. Basically, I was a vinyl collector and I had a little extra stock. My buddies had a clothing store and needed more stock so it just happened.

How did you decide on the location for the retail store, and what caused the transition from Alma Street to West Hastings Street?

Well Alma Street is obviously a little suburban and out of the way. At the time it was a good place but we actually moved from Alma to Main Street, which was up and down. It was nice, but it only really catered to that area. So from there we moved to Robson Street in an upstairs location, which was excellent. Lots of traffic but we were upstairs and in a small spot which we eventually outgrew so that is how we ended up here on Hastings; lots of room for all the vinyl.

Who came up with the name of the store? Furthermore, other than the definition of the literal meaning of the word, are there any other meanings behind store name?

The name was actually my business partner’s, Wes Kuitenbrouwer; he had a clothing store already. The name somehow managed to suit a record store as well, even though it wasn’t our idea to start a record store called Beat Street, it just kind of happened that way. Originally it was a clothing store, which sold tickets for raves in the 90’s. We sold Fresh Jive clothes, baggy pants, raver stuff, and some skateboard gear. I don’t know where the name actually originates from, there was a store in New York but we had no knowledge of that at the time.

Well obviously Beat Street originates from the movie, B-boys, break-dance, vinyl culture, it kind of relates to all of that; sort of encompasses the urban culture that we have been involved with.

Who is the average person that walks in the Beat Street Records and what do people mostly look for when they come in?

Well I guess we originated as a DJ vinyl store although times have changed quite a bit so overtime we have diversified. It’s no longer just DJ’s and record collectors coming in, we sell lots of tickets so we get a lot of business and walk-by traffic from that. Definitely for the most part, people mostly come from within the urban culture but we still get a lot of record collectors.

Describe the “Beatstreet Records Community”; it seems like over the years, many local events and DJs promote their gigs at your store.

We always sort of catered to the local community and we always sold the local CDs, (when they were big) the local rappers and their mix-tapes. We have always sponsored B-Boy events and we have sold tickets to the local DJ oriented shows that come through so we have always been community oriented. We are friends with most of the promoters that are around in the city as well as the DJ’s.

We still carry the mix-tapes, not so much anymore because they are on the outs but we still get all the local emcees, like Jay Kin and Emotion who sell their CD’s here and we are pretty much the only place who sells it locally.

The underground rap records that you carry, the beats and instrumentals collection, the large variety of genre of music that the store has and so on makes your store more of a record museum than anything else. How did your collection grow so big and how do you get your hands on the exclusives?

Well I’ve been collecting and buying records since the early 80’s so it started from extra records that I had. It grew from there when I started actively searching out records, digging in the crates style, and when the store grew we went out and bought collections. We bought several big collections from radio stations, and clubs that shut down over time as well as buying from personal collectors.

I was, I started out as a musician and collecting records but then started DJ’ing in about 91 and stopped in 2000. I don’t DJ anymore but I used to do a radio show called “These are the Breaks” for 15 years on CITR.

With over 100,000 pieces in stock, how do you keep track of your records?

We keep inventory online at the Beatstreet.CA website but we also have tons of records in the back that have not made their way out yet. So right now they aren’t that well inventoried but they are still within categories.

How do you determine the prices of your records you carry?

It’s all supply and demand based. There are books where you could grade stuff but vinyl really depends on who is looking for it at that time.  Now you can see value by online auctions, you can see what is selling. Some records you would have thrown out 10 or 15 years ago have now become valuable. Value really varies from year to year.

How has the evolution of the digital age of music affect the way you handle with your business?

It’s completely changed it, in the last few years it has really changed. A lot of the top 40, we don’t carry on vinyl any more. It’s really just disposable now. We used to sell the new 50 Cent, 12” and move about 100 copies, now we would be lucky to sell one. It’s completely changed, the stuff that we sell now are more on the collectors side of things, stuff that people will hold onto for value.

What do you think is Serato’s impact on the DJ scene? Does it just open doors to everyone to hop on the bandwagon?

It has had both a positive and negative impact. It definitely makes it easier for people. But now, you get kids who just buy Serato who don’t know the history of the music, or the history of DJ’ing. It’s definitely a lot easier to do now days. You can beat-match without even knowing what it means. At the same time it allows better DJ’s to become better. It allows DJ’s to play their own remixes and exclusive tracks. You don’t have to wait for something to get pressed and sent to you. It’s instantaneous; you can pretty much download in the club. Although, the sound quality has gotten worse, people just download and play low quality mp3s whereas Vinyl just sounds much better.

There’s a phrase out there: “REAL DJS PLAY VINYL” do you agree?

Yea, I guess I’m old school because I agree with this. But I don’t put people down for playing Serato. If I was DJ’ing now I’m sure I would be doing the same thing, but I definitely still love vinyl.

In your opinion, what is a rare record?

These days the rarest records are the independent presses. Anything from underground rap to obscure soul that is usually stuff that never made it onto a record label and it is usually the artist pressing it up themselves between 100 and 1000 copies. Those have definitely been the stand out rare records.

How would you used to find these records?

You have to have that knowledge, it is just one of those things. It’s a matter of knowing those things. You can sometimes see the independent labels but back in the day when you looked for records, it was all secrets.

What is your rarest record?

I have some old soul records that are probably my most rare; groups like Quadriphonics, some Northern Soul Stuff. Usually they sell anywhere between 100 and 2000 dollars.

What is HYPE?

I guess HYPE is the excitement generated. Let’s just say excitement.