As pandemic-related business closures remain in affect across much of the country, the iconic indie record shop Amoeba Music has been forced to close one of its locations. The store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood will not reopen even after retail is allowed to come back online at some point, with co-owner Jim Henderson say, “We are devastated for our run at this beautiful destination to end like this, but we simply have no choice,” according to The Los Angeles Times.
Amoeba had been gearing up for a location change later this year, with plans to throw a summer-long goodbye party for the space the L.A. space it had occupied since 2001. Those plans are cancelled, and since the company had been paying rent in two locations — the one that is about to close and the one they plan on moving into, a few blocks away in Hollywood — it will devote its resources to the new store instead. Co-founders Dave Prinz and Marc Weinstein launched a GoFundMe for Amoeba last week, and have so far raised a little more than half of their $400,000 goal, which would go towards compensating employees and helping to fund the business during the shutdown.