By Justine Sanchez, September 8, 2026
When Dilver Lizama, owner of DBZ Books ‘N’ Records, toured a second location for their growing business, he knew right away that a unit in The Union in Downtown Pomona, now open to the community, was the perfect place for them. Although they weren’t originally looking for a second location at the time, Lizama said they had to jump at the opportunity.
According to Lizama, DBZ first opened as a bookstore and over time integrated music and vinyls after the Corona community suggested that’s what they wanted to see more of. Only after making that transition did the store change its name from DBZ Books to DBZ Books ‘N’ Records.
Lizama said he had more knowledge of books, but it was his wife’s love of all genres of music that also motivated them to integrate records into their store. Lizama claims if you were to name a song to his wife, she would know it.
“What might make us a little bit different is that we listen to our customer base,” DBZ employee Brandon Beaulieu said. “I hope that every other record store does the same thing, listens to their customer base and kind of caters to what’s been asked for.”
Lizama emphasized being a part of the Pomona community was important to him and his team at DBZ, as they wanted to help make an impact on Pomona’s growing music scene overtime. Since DBZ’s opening June 25, Beaulieu claims there has been a continuous growth of customers overtime, especially after hosting events.
Within The Union is a wide range of other businesses, such as DBZ’s next door neighbor, Gud2Go cafe. Although store hours don’t always line up, both stores have found ways to support each other.
“We get some customers from (DBZ Books ‘N’ Records) too, especially on their grand opening day,” said Andreas Adidjaja, manager of Gud2Go. “It’s a unique spot.”
Something Lizama wanted to bring to this location is hosting listening parties for a range of different music that has newly been released for guests. Lizama claims after seeing how much people enjoyed them and how it brought the community together, they wanted to get straight into hosting them in Pomona.
Lizama said guests attending these listening parties give fans a chance to come and listen to records early, surrounded by people who also enjoy the same music. An upcoming event is a pre-release listening party for Alternative singer Beabadoobee and her new album Pylon. This event is set to happen almost a week before the public album release.
“With the listening parties, I feel like it’s a way for a lot of people in the community to feel more involved than attached to that artist,” Beaulieu said. “Like, ‘Oh I got to go listen to the new Ariana Grande record the day before it came out,’ or ‘I got this free poster for coming out.’ It’s definitely more than just another record store.”
According to Lizama, a goal of DBZ is to get younger kids to discover what physical media such as vinyls, CDs, and cassette tapes are, in order to help provide a way for individuals to connect with a wide range of music. Lizama claims the impact of physical media not only helps support big and small artists but also the small businesses and community where you’re shopping.
A high priority to Lizama is ensuring that DBZ customers are heard, taking in suggestions guests might have and building a community fit for everyone. Lizama claims without the support of their customers they wouldn’t be where they are today.
“It’s really just kind of the willingness to go above and beyond to try to, within our best ability, help them get what they’re looking for and just provide the best experience that we can for (customers),” Beaulieu said. “A lot of the time, if we don’t have something in our store and/or if it’s something that’s hard to find, we can always look it up through our distributor. There’s other means that we can look forward to help people get what they’re looking for.”
Lizama and Beaulieu both shared their excitement to grow with the Pomona community and invite others to check out the store. To see some of their past events and find out more about future ones, you can join their growing community via Instagram @dbzbooksnrecords.
