Specialty shop Funky Beat marking time till the end

VIRGINIA BEACH

When siblings Dean and Melody Workman opened Funky Beat 14 years ago, they brought the reggae scene and surf style to the suburbs of Hampton Roads.

The brother-sister team established themselves as retail pioneers. They carry brands found primarily in specialty stores and scarce outside of big cities: RZST, Iron Fist, Nick & Mo. They stock an eclectic mix of clothing, jewelry, sneakers, swimwear, caps, gag gifts, funny-titled books and snacks. They even pierce ears.

Over time, the target market of the designers they feature grew younger. Surf-and-skate shops sprung up all over town. Today, with mass-market mall stores and even off-price retailers such as T.J. Maxx selling similar teen-focused goods, the Workmans decided the time for Funky Beat has come to an end.

They've closed their two stores in Chesapeake, in the Hickory and Western Branch areas, and plan to do the same with their flagship shop in Fairfield Shopping Center on Dec. 24. The economy has dragged down sales and helped push them to this conclusion, Dean Workman said, but wasn't the reason for it.

"Since we started, the trends have changed," he said Friday from behind the store's counter. "I feel like the 'special' is out of specialty."

For now, the owners aren't talking about what they'll do next but promise to keep customers posted through their e-mail list. They smile slyly when asked what they'll do. "It's fair to say we have a lot of good ideas," Dean said.

They have marked down all of their merchandise and aim to sell everything by the closing date. They'll put up the fixtures, too, including the rear end of a dark-red Dodge van that serves as the store's dressing room, behind doors adorned with bumper stickers and peace symbols.

"It's horrible," said Patrick Wittle, 15, of the store's closing. The Kempsville High School freshman has shopped at Funky Beat, his favorite place to buy Shmack clothing, for at least three years "because of all the neat stuff in here, all the stuff you can't buy anywhere else but here."

The Workman siblings grew up in Kempsville. Dean edged his way into the retail business. He started back in high school, selling the jewelry he made to friends.

Out of school, in 1989, he worked and sold his jewelry line, Rasta Ropes, at a local surf shop where he met sales representatives who distributed his wares and others to retailers up and down the East Coast. The surf shop owner eventually became a merchandise representative as well, and brought Dean with him.

While Dean succeeded as a rep, a creative bent ultimately pulled him back to the design board. In 1991, he developed a clothing, jewelry and accessories line called Soul Mon and distributed it to boutiques, surf shops, reggae stores and music outlets.

Melody, who was working in marketing for a local architecture firm, joined her brother at Soul Mon a year later. Dean said he always wanted his

own store but couldn't afford it until 1994, when Soul Mon had risen to a certain level of pop-culture prominence, with recognition on MTV cable network's "House of Style" and the Steel Pulse reggae band wearing the designs.

The Workmans opened a temporary store in Virginia Beach just to sell Soul Mon. They did so well that they

began looking for a permanent spot, finding it where the last Funky Beat stands now, at least for another month

or so. They named the company for the saying on one of Dean Workman's T-shirt designs: "Soul Mon is searching for da funky beat. So righteous. So sweet."

Several customers trailing into Funky Beat on Friday, past the "clearance sale" signs in the windows, looked surprised and sad.

"My daughter loves this store," said Diana O'Donnell, as she came in with daughter Katie, who began shopping at the store in middle school and continues now at age 21. "And my 76-year-old dad wears the Funky Beat T-shirts."

O'Donnell points to tops bearing the Funky Beat rat-on-a-skateboard logo, which she says she wears proudly as a trademark of Hampton Roads when she travels.

"It's sad," she said. "This was an original store. It wasn't a chain. They had different stuff."

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com