‘We Are Devastated’: Amoeba Music Won’t Reopen At Original Hollywood Location Due To Financial Strains Amid Coronavirus Shutdown

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — The massive impact from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the closure of the iconic Amoeba Music from its original Hollywood location at the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga.

The company announced Monday that the coronavirus crisis has forced Amoeba to remain closed until it can move into its new Hollywood location this fall.

In a statement, store owners wrote, “With no reasonably foreseeable opportunity to re-open in our current location, we are instead focusing on hopefully opening in the fall in our previously announced new home at 6200 Hollywood Blvd. This situation has been forced on all of us, and we feel this decision is the most responsible and practical one.”

Amoeba announced the decision on their Instagram Monday saying in part, “We are devastated. We know you are too. We never envisioned not being able to give the store the send-off it deserves, to give you all a chance to say goodbye. But we are facing too many mitigating circumstances.”

View this post on Instagram

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce that the massive impact from COVID-19 has forced Amoeba Hollywood to remain closed until we can hopefully move to our new location this fall. We are devastated. We know you are too. We never envisioned not being able to give the store the send-off it deserves, to give you all a chance to say goodbye. But we are facing too many mitigating circumstances. This is not the end of Amoeba! We are moving to a new location at 6200 Hollywood Blvd in the fall and we feel fortunate that this plan was set into motion long before COVID-19. There are so many unknowns and uncertainties for a business like ours right now. The only thing we do know for certain is that we intend to survive. We want to continue to be there for our amazing customers and our incredible staff in our new location long after this pandemic disappears. The only way we can keep Amoeba Hollywood alive in the future is to make this difficult decision now. Thank you ALL so much for your support during this time and over the years. We have the best customers in the world, as evidenced by the tremendous outpouring of support for our GoFundMe. Your generosity is going to help cover health care for our employees at all three stores, and generally help Amoeba continue while we all must remain closed. We miss you all and cannot wait until we can be together again. Please read our full statement online at https://amoeba.com/moveupdate

A post shared by Amoeba Hollywood (@amoebahollywood) on Apr 27, 2020 at 1:32pm PDT

In April, Amoeba launched GoFundMe page to raise funds amid the COVID-19 shutdown.

“Thank you ALL so much for your support during this time and over the years. We have the best customers in the world, as evidenced by the tremendous outpouring of support for our GoFundMe. Your generosity is going to help cover health care for our employees at all three stores, and generally help Amoeba continue while we all must remain closed,” Amoeba wrote on Instagram.

Last year, the Hollywood establishment announced the move to 6200 Hollywood after the land their current location rests on was sold to developer GPI Companies for a reported $34 million.

According to the LA Times, the company has been paying rent on the two locations since the pandemic began.

“If we don’t focus on getting the new store ready for the fall opening, the hard reality is we may never open again anywhere,” the store said in a statement.

The store originally planned to open in the new location “sometime after Labor Day 2020.”

Amoeba opened its first store back in 1990 in Berkeley. It’s Hollywood store, which takes up an entire city block, opened in 2001.