![]() ![]() They offer a higher margin than new CDs and records. Amoeba Music storefront in San Francisco (Art: Ron Hart)ĭespite the downturn in CD sales in the early 2000s, Amoeba survived because it buys and sells used records. Until recently, the Hollywood store was housed in a two-story building Amoeba had constructed in the historical style of old LA. It’s a huge, welcoming cavern full of music, old and new. The Haight Street store was once a bowling alley. ![]() Indie artists are always telling us they love our store because we gave them their own bin card.Īmoeba’s Berkeley store did so well, they opened locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. One thing we do, is that everyone with two releases gets a bin card. “We’re about the indie artists, first and foremost. We like to support indie artists and a few major label artists too. We play and promote records our staff of amazing music experts and nerds – and I include myself in that category – think are great. When reps from the major labels came in they used to ask, ‘Where are you putting the video screens?’ We never much catered to the majors. “We make our stores comfortable for hardcore collectors. “We never wanted people to feel like they’ve walked into a commercial,” Weinstein says. The inside view of Amoeba Music in San Francisco, CA (Photo taken from the store’s website) Unlike most stores, the walls are not cluttered with major label posters and you don’t hear the latest hits blaring out of the store’s sound system on an endless loop. They sell new and used records – actual records on vinyl – as well as new and used CDs, DVDs, posters, t-shirts and a range of uncategorizable music paraphernalia. Weinstein is one of the owners of Amoeba music, one of the group of record collectors that opened the chain’s first store on Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue in 1990. “You’ll see tour busses in front of our Haight Street and Hollywood stores every day of the week.” “We’re a mecca for musically inclined tourists,” Marc Weinstein says. You can feel the excitement in the air as they stack their purchases on the counter. When the tour guide blows his warning whistle, they line up at the check out counter, shopping bags and arms overflowing with LPs, boxed sets of CDs, and paraphernalia. Inside, they split up and head for the jazz, rock and country music bins. There are laughing young girls decked out in emoji t-shirts and mini-skirts, older gentlemen with gray hair and serious expressions, and all ages in between. There is much jostling for position as they swarm into the store. A crowd of Japanese tourists, shopping bags in hand, pours out of the bus and rushes for the doors. Townes Van Zandt’s “To Live Is To Fly” plays softly from the speakers inside the store.Ī large tour bus pulls up and opens its doors. It’s a quiet sunny day in San Francisco’s Haight Street district.
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