Amoeba Music To Relocate After Demolition, Plans To Acquire Dispensary License

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — Popular music store Amoeba Music will be demolished and replaced with an apartment complex, but the store plans to reopen nearby with new additions to their merchandise.

According to the LA Times, Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to approve zoning that that will allow the development of a 26-story complex at the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga Boulevard where Amoeba Music is currently located.

The building, which opened as the music store in 2001, was sold to developer GPI Companies in 2015 for $34 million.

“Amoeba has every intention of remaining in L.A.,” Amoeba’s Jim Henderson told The Times in 2017. “Rest assured, we are NOT closing, but we are now in a position where we may have to change locations in the coming years.”

According to Variety, Amoeba Music’s co-owner, Marc Weinstein said in 2018 that Amoeba’s L.A. store will move to a new location “within blocks” of its current spot on 6400 Sunset Boulevard.

Alongside the move, Amoeba has announced plans to acquire a dispensary license at the new location, wherever that may be.

In 2018, Amoeba’s Berkeley location opened Hi-Fidelity, the companies first marijuana dispensary.

The addition of marijuana sales was reported by the Times to diversify “profit streams in a music retail landscape that has been on a steady decline since the rise of downloadable digital files in the late 1990s.”

Weinstein reported to Variety that wherever the new location ends up, they will “be diligent” in securing the necessary permits from the city of Los Angeles for its own dispensary.

Although a revival in vinyl sales and annual events such as Record Store Day have helped sales at brick and mortar music stores, it has not helped sales enough to help counteract the steady decline of compact disc sales.

According to a 2018 market report by industry analyst BuzzAngle, CD sales in 2018 fell by 18.5% over the year prior.

Wherever the new location for the beloved store ends up, music lovers in Los Angeles can rest assured that they will still be able to get their hands on their favorite albums.

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