HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Amoeba Music will not reopen its iconic Sunset Boulevard location due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but management of the Hollywood record store said today it hopes to open its new Hollywood Boulevard location earlier than expected in the fall.
“This is heartbreaking for us,” Amoeba's management said in a statement on its website. “We never envisioned not being able to give the store the send-off it deserves, to give you all a chance to say goodbye.
“We had so many events planned to celebrate our history at 6400 Sunset! But we are facing too many mitigating circumstances that simply won't allow for it.”
Amoeba's location at the southeast corner of Sunset and Cahuenga boulevards has closed since mid-March due to the Safer At Home order. The store is being forced out of the location to make way for a planned housing development.
Management announced in early February the store would be relocated to the southeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Avenue.
The store's management said three factors “heavily figured” into its decision to not reopen the Sunset Boulevard location:
-- They believe that as a non-essential, and likely “higher risk” business, it is “highly unlikely” they will be allowed to open during the summer.
-- They do not want to ask their more than 200 employees to come back to work in a public-facing environment, “where customer interactions are frequent ... and handling shared product in a shared space is the nature of the business.”
-- They can put their energy instead to opening the location earlier than expected and updating Amoeba.com with more used and collectible pieces “to serve as a bridge to the new store opening.”
Amoeba's GoFundMe page, which founders Marc Weinstein and Dave Prinz set up last week, has raised over $216,000 of its $400,000 goal.
According to the store's management, the money will be used to cover health care for employees at all Amoeba stores -- the other two are in Berkeley and San Francisco -- and to help Amoeba continue while the doors are closed.
The GoFundMe page is located at https://bit.ly/2W7K6GQ.
Photo: Getty Images