Amoeba flooding the mkt.
Burns
2,227 Posts
Amoeba closing in 6 to 8 months? Is that the word? Saturating cyberspace with online auction sales. Is it true?
Burns
2,227 Posts
Comments
I've heard SF and Berkely were slow, but LA was killing.
Is SF really that slow? I only ever go on weekends so my perspective is skewed...
If they're closing it's really such a huge sign that CDs are near-death outside of music fanatics and collectors...selling CDs to "normal" people was their bread and butter, especially around holiday season.
I can't imagine what would replace them in Berkeley in that space...I can only hope that someone does something cool and opens a club/music venue, which the city desperately needs but the city council will probably block from happening.
No matter what I have no clue why Amoeba would really need to bother that much with online auction sales for the cheaper stuff...they would be FLOODED with customers if they announced a closing sale.
I would add that I have heard rumors that they've invested millions in some sort of online download site that has as of yet not materialized.
The Berkeley store is as good as dead to me, but I'll occasionally cop the odd Daptone or Numero release from them. The crux is that for a store that is of that size and prominence they should be putting out huge collections of stuff regularly.
In a sick and twisted way I'm hoping they will close so everything that the shiesty employees skim off the top ends up at Rasputin so I can switch the tags on it. Yeah, that just happened.
The funny thing is: on the way out of the SF store there's a big banner saying that they've "saved" over x00,000 acres of rainforest in South America by using proceeds from each CD sale. LOL at that BS.
I wonder if the SF location closes. That would be pretty amazing that Groove Merchant lasted through, considering how many other small shops Amoeba put out of business.
I remember when there was talk of them opening a NYC shop.
Yeah dude - that's not something to brag about, that's something to nervously keep to yourself as the guilt devours you.
Especially since now people know what you look like from the 'post your mug' thread.
Telling people you steal is kinda like asking them to judge you. I get why people would steal (who doesn't enjoy getting stuff at a discount?), I don't get why people would share that tidbit like sharing their favorite color. Weird.
Jesus, people. This is in response to a thread a while back. I haven't switched tags since I was a broke muthafuska a couple years back during my UC Berkeley / Rice and Tofu dayz.
Now that I'm making green like yellow and bleu, I only shop at the Groove Merchant.
Note to groove Merchant; staple tags to covers.
What if they cleaned it up, trained their employees, and improved buying?
In theory, Berkeley is a hip place with lots of music lovers and they are the most famous store.
I guess the decision has been made. Just sayin'.
Is this good news for Rasputin's?
Don't even utter such nonsense. Me and Chris are fam.
This idea has actually been bothering me for a while. In Wax Po a few issues back there was some dude doing the "best of top 10 list" bragging about going on a "college Radio jacking spree" and copping a Jack Bruce lp. And that really bothered me. Ive been volunteering at a PublicRadio station for a few years now and there is nothing more depressing than going to find an album that is supposed to be in the library only to have it MIA. Honestly, ive watched over the years as, conservatively, 100 cds have disappeared and never returned. People who steal records/cds from college or public radio stations (or anywhere) =
I was giving someone a hard time about doing this.
He said "No one else is going to play it."
Me, "Not now anyway".
It was a Sun Ra Record.
I don't think Rasputin's is any better off, having closed stores recently too.
While the Berkeley location is the original, I don't even think it's the most famous at this point. People have been talking up the SF store since it opened and the LA store is a WAY bigger deal than either Berkeley or SF combined...Berkeley is small fish and high rent.
Used CDs have just gotten SO cheap on the internet that wading through Amoebas crowded asiles and sections just doesn't have much appeal to people anymore I think. Personally I think they should take out some of the racks and add some listening stations, make the store more welcoming and personal, but they are SO paranoid about shoplifting and homeless people that I can't imagine that ever happening.
And I mean if they had halfway competent record buyers over the past decade, I hardly think we'd be talking about them closing. I hate it when record stores close, but this is really a symptom of them refusing to change with the times.
That would totally ruin the bastion of authenticity that is the Haight.
I know the Haight st. store is not big enough, but it would make a cool indoor go-cart track if it was, or micropub with pinball arcade.
Not really. It'd mean a record store is replaced by something that I wouldn't care for.