About Funky Moose Records

Hi! Thanks for visiting Funky Moose Records.

I'm Mark, and I started this site back in 2015. Have a seat, relax and let me tell you about this crazy journey that I'm on.

Let's start with a quick history about me: I have a brief background in radio, and two music fanatics in Holland raised me. My grandma introduced me to Queen at a young age, and "A day at the races" still has a special place in my heart because that's where it all started. My dad brought me to the radio studio, where he hosted multiple shows. I later stepped in his footsteps on the technical side of broadcasting.

Fast forward to 2015, after marrying this Canadian girl I met on the internet, settling down in Canada and running my own web design company from home.

I missed the physical interaction with customers and handing over products I sold them. I was in retail for a while to pay the bills, and that was the aspect I liked most.

We started building our record collection here, and one day, there was a box of records next to my desk. There was this figurative lightbulb that turned on above my head. "What if" I could combine my web design expertise with the physical aspect of selling items by selling records online?

I did some research, made some phone calls, and signed up with a distributor; I got to work on a rough draft for an online store.

I needed a name. I wanted it to be Canadian, but I also wanted it to be "modular", so that if I either needed to pivot the business or add on to the company. I came up with a few names. "Funky" was a definite part of the name, but the subject had a few options: Goose, Loon, Moose and even Beaver (yeah, I know). Funky Moose Records rolled off the tongue nicely, and I found a local graphic artist to come up with a few iterations of what a funky moose would look like.

I put it all together and added as many records to the site I could recognize on the price-list the distributor gave me. They guided me through the most popular titles at the time.

On June 1st, 2015, I nervously opened up the store to the public and kept adding products to the site. Eight days later, the first order came in. Two days after that, the next and the snowball turned into an avalanche from there.

There were many trials and errors, but I've always been open with my customers about who we are and what we do, and people seem to appreciate that.

A couple of years later, I start experimenting with used records after people asked me if I was interested in selling used records. This is also around the time I meet Jeremy. He moved in next door, and one day, he asked me what this record thing was that I was doing.

He informed me that he enjoys garage sales, estate sales, auctions, etc. He would be able to "find shit for me." We made a deal that if he brought records, we'd split the profits.

A week or so later, he brought precisely that: "shit." I agreed to filter through the box he'd got, but I also told him that he needs to know what to look for if he's serious about this. I gave him pointers, he dove head-first into record grading and taught himself the ins-and-outs about which records are sellable and which ones are barely good enough for the thrift store. Every box he brought after that got better and better. At the time of writing, we're still going strong together, and we've purchased and sold tonnes of collections to a point where we had to rent 26' U-Haul trucks to fit all the records we were buying. Check out his side of the story here.

Jennifer. Remember that girl from Canada I married? She's also part of the business and is in charge of the physical inventory of records and partially handles order shipments. She's been very patient with me spending -what seemed to be- way too much time on this overgrown hobby.

I also hired Joel. We were friends long before I started the business. He kept telling me he wanted to be part of it, so when there was room to create a position, I created it for him. He takes care of data management, which means that he makes sure new records are regularly added to the site, accessories go on sale when they need to, and stock requests are being handled.
He's also the co-host of our podcast "The Sit Down."

We're all doing what we like doing, and we can't wait to see what the future brings!

Thanks for being here with us. We appreciate you.
Mark Poppen
President - Funky Moose Audio Inc.

Funky Moose Records Timeline 

• June 1st, 2015 - Online store opens
• June 8th, 2015 - First customer order is processed
• August 31st, 2015 - Funky Moose Records becomes an official Spin-Clean Record Washer dealer.
• November 2015 - Funky Moose Records launches artist support.
• December 2015 - Funky Moose Records opens Discogs store to sell used records.
• April 2016 - Plans are made to start a vinyl subscription service.
• May 2016 - Funky Moose Records becomes the first Canadian retailer for the GrooveWasher record cleaning kit.
• August 2016 - Used records are now available on the Funky Moose Records website.
• August 2016 - The first episode of the podcast "Moose Tracks" is live.
• December 2016 - The Mystery Rock Box becomes a product in steps towards a vinyl subscription.
• March 2017 - Funky Moose Records becomes an official dealer for Kanto Audio.
• April 2017 - Funky Moose Records becomes an official Audioengine dealer.
• September 2017 - Funky Moose Records vinyl subscription pilot program launches. #VinylSubCa
• March 2018 - A redesign of the site was completed to improve speed and user experience.
• July 2018 - Funky Moose GOLD was introduced to help people save on shipping.
• October 2018 - The Vinyl subscription service shuts down due to a lack of interest.
• October 2018 - Funky Moose Records starts pressing promotional 7" records.
• February 2019 - Funky Moose incorporates under the name Funky Moose Audio Inc.
• April 2019 - Funky Moose Records becomes an official Audio Technica dealer.
• February 2020 - We launch The Sit Down. A podcast that evolved into a platform where we hang out with indie artists.
• June 2020 - Funky Moose Records has been in business for 5 years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no big celebration :(
• August 2021 - We released the first record on our label. The debut EP for Northern Royals.
• August 7th, 2021 - The inaugural MooseFest was a big hit!
• April 2022 - Funky Moose Radio launches.
• December 2022 - We became the hosts for the Capitol Open Stage.
• January 2023 - We lanched a deeper integration with our supplier, adding over 10k products to the site with updates on a weekly basis.
• July 2023 - After 5 years, it was time for a refresher. We redesigned the site while still keeping the familiar look and feel.

Who do we sell to?

We're selling all over the world, but obviously, Canada is our main focus. Check out this map of the locations of the last 500 orders: