Amoeba Music
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Amoeba Music in San Francisco |
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The inside of the San Francisco store |
Amoeba Music is an
independent music chain in
Berkeley,
San Francisco, and
Hollywood,
California. It opened on
Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in
1990. The stores are unusually large given their independent status. The San Francisco store, which opened in 1998 in the
Haight-Ashbury district, is especially notable for its size. Built in a 24,000
square foot (2,200 m²)
bowling alley, the store regularly stocks upwards of 100,000
CDs,
vinyl records, and
audio cassettes, both new and
used.
The
Southern California location was added later: in
November 2001, the store opened a new branch in
Hollywood, on
Los Angeles' legendary
Sunset Boulevard (at
Cahuenga Boulevard.) (See
article.) At the time of its opening, the store was planned to stock as many as 250,000 titles, which would place the store among the largest
independent music stores in the world. According to
Los Angeles Times writer
Michael Hiltzik, the location "instantly became a Hollywood landmark." [
1]
The stores also trade in movies, though secondarily to their music business. Each location has a smaller collection of movies on
DVD,
VHS, and
Laserdisc.
A large portion of the stores' business is in
used merchandise. Patrons of the store can sell their used music and movies to the store for half of the retail value in cash or 2/3 supposed retail value in store credit.
*
Official homepage of Amoeba Music
* "
The World's Greatest Record Store?". (
February 19,
1998).
Rolling Stone, page 19.
* "
Indie Chains Are Slump Proof: California's Amoeba and other retailers succeed amid industry nightmare". (
August 12,
2003) Matt Diehl and Jenny Eliscu.
Rolling Stone. Retrieved
2005-11-28.
* "
S.F. Music Landmark Headed to Sunset - Brief Article". (
November 13,
2000.) Christopher Keough.
Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved
2005-11-28.
* "
Golden State: Record Chain Bets on the Past, Future". (
November 17,
2005.) Michael Hiltzik.
Los Angeles Times (and accompanying
Golden State Blog.).
* "
Amoeba Music's Simple Formula". (
February 17,
2005).
BusinessWeek.
