Today we’d like to introduce you to Gunther Schenk.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I got my start in the business in 2016, as I was wrapping up my undergraduate studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, over in Fort Myers. A two-semester long internship with the local minor league hockey team let me feeling very disallusioned with the sports industry as a whole, and I found myself in a position where it was essentially “continue down this path but lose passion for the game” or “tap into another area”. While not immediate, I did choose the latter.
Around this time, I was 3 years into collecting. Beach Records, one of the local record stores in Fort Myers, was my primary shop to go dig at. There, I had befriended Marty, the owner who also happened to teach at FGCU. A classmate of mine had been interning there, and upon one visit the opportunity of being the next one came about. It was too good to pass up: my final semester of university was starting, I had the time/flexibility, and I was eager to learn about a new side of something that I love. I ended up interning there once a week for 4 months and managed to book a show at the shop, too. In hindsight, it was the true introduction to the record store business that I didn’t realize would become something long-term. I am probably not here today without Beach Records, so thank you Marty for the opportunity.
While Beach was my store of choice on the west coast, it was Radio-Active Records that was my go-to whenever I came home for a weekend (which was pretty frequent). Mirroring Beach, I would also end up helping out at Radio-Active. Initially, I ran a few errands for Mikey (manager at the time) and volunteered at the shop for two Record Store Day events. This turned into helping around at the shop for a month in the summer, which led to a part-time position come August 2017. It was surreal: I landed a job at *the* record store in South Florida!
I started strictly as a floater working twice a week, mostly cleaning used records and assisting/ringing up customers. Things in the operation changed shortly thereafter, and with that more responsibility started getting delegated my way. Throughout 2018, Sean (owner) guided me with buying and pricing used record collections, and Natalie (manager) set me up to be an admin on the shop’s Instagram account and also showed me the ropes on ordering new records from our distributors. Additionally, I tapped into my own ecommerce experience and established the shop’s Discogs page in this time period. Things ended up snowballing, and eventually I was involved with getting some in-store signings and performances lined up, alongside expanding the shops Punk/Indie/Metal/Hip Hop offerings. During this time, I also had the priviledge of attending the annual Record Store Day Summer Camp conference in New Orleans on multiple occasions. There, I got to meet so many others in the industry, many of which bestowed a lot of influence on my career. By 2019, I knew this industry was where I was supposed to be.
After navagating the COVID pandemic relatively smoothly with Sean, Natalie, and Mick between 2020-2022, things came ahead for me in 2023. The shop had moved, I felt like I had hit a work-related ceiling, I generally wasn’t happy about my position anymore, and I had some personal matters to deal with outside of work. Most importantly, I wanted to take the next step upward in my career. So, in February 2024 I resigned from my position at Radio-Active Records. To this day, I am extremely grateful for my time there, for the crew I got to be a part of, and especially to the thousands of people I got to interact with on a near-daily basis.
After taking a few months to recharge the batteries, the foundations of Shellshock Records were laid in May 2024. I found a spot centrally located in Fort Lauderdale, had my logo designed by my friend Cody, and started stocking up on records and CDs for the eventual grand opening. However, the spot needed a fair amount of renovations to be completed. Both permitting and contractor-related issues led to the work beginning in January 2025 and finishing up 14 months later in February 2026. In the meantime, I had a few things happening that kept things moving forward.
I started bringing a table to Equinox Booking shows, with a curated selection of records/CDs/cassettes/merch, all leaning into the hardcore punk and metal realms. At these shows, Shellshock Records became somewhat of an open secret in the South Florida Hardcore scene. Jeff (promoter/longtime friend) was down with the pop up from day 1, and they were pretty frequent for about two years (even up in Central Florida too). Simoultaneously, my friends Jesse and Mel up at Rust & Wax in West Palm Beach needed an extra hand on deck at the same time that I was waiting for my own renovations to progress. For 9 months last year, I’d drive up north to price used records, assist/ring up customers, and work a few listening parties/in-store shows. This period felt like an industry rebirth for me, and it was essentially the last stop on the way to being a full-time business owner. Jeff and Tobby/Equinox Booking, everyone at The Coop Booking (Orlando), Josh Howell/Armageddon Records (Tampa), Night Shift Merch (Daytona Beach), Alex Cooper/Study Hall Records (Orlando), and everyone at Rust & Wax (West Palm Beach) has my upmost appreciation for this part of my journey.
Shellshock Records opened on May 23rd, 2026, and I hope that these next however-many years are filled with all of the good vibes, experiences, and community connections that I have come to experience over the last decade in this business.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
They say that “nothing comes easy”, and it couldn’t be more true. While finding the shop’s location was pretty easy, albeit lucky, nothing else leading up to opening was. Permitting took the better part of 6 months to get all renovation work approved, and once the work itself started it was problem after problem. Projects that should have taken a week to complete took a month. Sub par work that needed to be redone. Contractor talking in empty promises. Subcontractors quitting mid-job, and all of those are just scratching the surface. It was a 14 month-long nightmare, but all good things to take time… and a little bit of assertiveness.
As the delays grew, I had to pivot and start selling off some product that I really wanted to hold onto for my grand opening. In theory, not too hard to do, but being OCD it was really hard on me to decide how to navigate that. Luckily, a couple nice record collections came in right after opening the shop, erasing that dillema.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Shellshock Records?
Located in Fort Lauderdale, Shellshock Records is South Florida’s newest independent record store. Owned and operated by longtime South Florida record store face Gunther Schenk, we sell new and used Records/CDs/Cassette Tapes. We take pride in seperating ourselves as a place that has a strong focus on Indie/Alternative, Punk/Hardcore, Metal, Hip Hop, and Electronic music. While we have our niche, we also carry a curation of Rock, Soul, Jazz, International, and Soundtrack albums. Listeners of any and all types of music are welcome here, and we hope that you discover some new music here for years to come!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shellshockrecs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565123075732#
