“We wanted to open a record store where people who don’t buy records could go in and still have fun,” says Rob Davis of the idea behind Freakout Spot record store, explaining, “I got dragged to a lot of record stores by my dad when I was younger.” When he teamed up with his wife, Lila Allen, this past January to open a pop-up in the other half of the building that houses Bluebird wine shop in Accord, accessibility was top of mind. “Lila is the other half of the store. She curates really great books, items, clothes, oddities,” he says. “The shop looks and feels the way it does because of her.”
A Charlotte native and former kindergarten teacher, Davis worked in and out of record stores for large stints of his life. Before launching Bluebird in Accord last winter, he had done plenty of record fairs, regional markets like Field + Supply, and online shops of all stripes under the Freakout moniker but never a consistent location. “There are really good record stores in the area,” Davis says, calling out Rocket Number 9 in Kingston and Everything Nice in Ellenville in particular. “But there is stuff that I wasn’t seeing locally that I would like to buy myself, so I thought there was a niche we could fill. We’re doing a lot more genre records—a lot more psychedelic, jazz, punk, and international.”
An almost entirely used inventory of genre records, a disproportionate amount of 45s, and fun add-ons like t-shirts, lighter cases, and music books made Freakout Spot an instant hit among locals and weekenders, and the short-term Accord pop-up stretched on indefinitely. But then, in early November, an unexpected visit from the Rochester Zoning Department effectively shut Freakout Spot down from one day to the next, just as the holiday season was kicking off. “We had stock for November and December, which are our busiest months, and we were told that we didn’t have a place to sell it—it was pretty crushing,” Davis says.
But a surge of support from the community saved the day. Davis doubled down on web sales. Darling’s in Rosendale hosted Freakout Spot for a record pop-up on Black Friday, with 10 percent of bar sales going to support them. Then the owners of Eliza and Ollie’s Pizza reached out to offer Davis the former Fletcher & Lu space on Broadway in Kingston. With little time and less budget, in under two weeks, they turned the space around to create a Freakout Spot pop-up in the former deli/market, where they will be through at least the end of January.
“I have felt so unbelievably humbled by the response to the closing of the physical location,” Davis says. “So many other business owners reached out to extend a hand. We turned the Kingston shop around so quickly, and the only reason we could do it was because every person in our life and every business owner said ‘here are the hours I am available.’ ‘I have a truck.’ ‘Here is the wood we have.’ ‘Here is the extra stock we have.’ Jack from Vernacular Design stopped working for 48 hours so he could keep building something for us. It was truly amazing to see how quickly we could turn it around, because everyone in the community wanted it to happen.”
They dismantled the Accord store in two days and put together the Kingston shop in one, opening as a cheeky record deli on November 22, just ahead of Thanksgiving. “My wife has impeccable taste and stockpiles cool things,” Davis says. “So when we moved into a deli and she happened to have a small box of fake deli meats and cheeses to add to the shop display, I felt very lucky to have her. She has leaned us fully into that angle, and I think it’s amazing. Enough people walk in, look around, and do a full lap before they realize it’s a record store,” he says with a laugh. Beyond those confused newcomers, Freakout Spot has been buoyed by visits from their old Accord and Kerhonkson regulars plus drop-ins from Kingston locals walking the busy Broadway stretch between favorites like Eliza, Tubby’s, West Kill, and the Upstate Midtown cinema.
The new spot sports an inventory thousands of records deep and growing all the time. “Every day I put out another 100 records,” Davis says. “We’ve given a lot of floor space to the 45s, it’s a thing I love, and there are enough people locally that are really into it that it would be so silly for us not to do.” There are vintage t-shirts, as well as tees from designer friends Hand of Gosh and Audrey Louise Reynolds. Allen also curates a mix of new and used psychedelic and music books.
The move isn’t without its perks. “The high ceilings mean you can physically see the books better,” Davis says. “Things like that have been a nice change. And there’s really good natural light—maybe too much.”
Holiday hours at the new spot are Thursday through Monday 12-8pm, though Davis will be adding late afternoon/evening hours on Wednesdays soon. Stay tuned to their Instagram for updates and record drops.
“This only works because of having people that cared about us,” Davis says. “So many people reached out with offers of support, it was absolutely overwhelming. It’s been awesome.”
Freakout Spot Holiday Pop-Up
582 Broadway #2 Kingston
The Freakout team totally rocks! And Marie Doyon is a stellar writer – thanks for covering this story!