Amoeba Music

I've lived in San Francisco since 1986 so I've shopped at the Haight Street store tons of times (no I don't know how you measure it in tons). There are a lot of things to like about the store. The enormity of the stock (which can be measured in tons) is amazing. If you can't find something to interest you, you're not looking. There have every genre and have some of the most obscure and hard to find stuff too. Most artists have their cds/albums divided by title. There's a separate room for the dvds and soundtracks. Again, all kinds of stuff from comedy to silents, to foreign films and more. You can fill in the gaps to your collections. If it's not there, they can order it for you. They even subdivide their dvds by directors. There are new arrival bins that get new stuff daily. If there are any defects in your purchase you get a no hassle refund. If you just want to record something you buy, if you return it within a week you get 70% for it in trade for it. Just keep the receipt. The store even has live bands play there from time to time. I saw Chris Isaack there and he was great. I live in the Haight so it's walking distance for me to go there. Bet you wish you had it that convenient So happy 20th Amoeba, you're the greatest.

As a struggling college student in Austin, a few CDs from my collection sold to the local used record store was pretty often the difference between eating or starving on some days. As a much more well-fed adult, I always regretted the loss of some pretty amazing discs, and vowed never to sell any CDs again, even if I'd bought them drunk at a truck stop in an ill-advised spending spree. When Amoeba opened in Hollywood, a friend was visiting from San Francisco. Inspired by a late night, neighbor-angering, foot stomping party to my Nazareth "Hair of the Dog" LP, we decided to throw my vow to the wind and collect all my sophmore slumps, one hit wonders, indie darlings-cum-pop culture pariahs, and freebies from my years as a record label drone, and sell, sell, SELL. Not only did that shopping spree result in a $300 credit payout, the purchase of the entire Faces, Rolling Stones, Dirtbombs and Buck Owens catalogues, it also resulted in an enduring attraction to mustaches. See, at the buying counter was a distinctly attractive (and very helpful) gentleman with the prettiest trucker 'stache I'd ever laid eyes on. So pretty in fact, that I found myself scraping my collection for another run a couple of weeks later, just so I could lay my eyes on that sweet sweet lip duster. "Hi, you again?" the mustache I was sort of benevolently stalking said. "Yeah, I found these old CDs from The Band that I don't need any more," I lied sheepishly (knowing full well I'd just pilfered them from my EMI backstock). I went to go see the Detroit Cobras at Spaceland a few months later, and was introduced to a different mustache, similar, though not quite as spectacular as the first. I began dating this fellow, who I secretly referred to as "The Substitute Mustache." Not only was his mustache nice, but he had some pretty amazing taste in music. We drove to the beach and he played me a mix tape that blew my mind. But, alas, things were not to be for me and The Substitute Mustache. I learned the hard way that a great record collection and a good lip full of fuzz doesn't entirely make the man. We parted on moderately friendly terms and I figured I'd go back to admiring Buying Counter Mustache from afar. I went back to Amoeba some months later to buy who-knows-what and undoubted other impulse purchases, and who should I see stalking the aisles? The Substitute Mustache! Before I could hide behind the vinyl Recent Arrivals, he turned and spotted me. And in turn, I spotted an Amoeba sticker on his shirt indicating that the worlds of Buying Counter Mustache and The Substitute Mustache had collided. They were now BOTH working at Amoeba! What was I to do?! Clearly, I did what any self-respecting record-loving mustache-fetishizing woman would do. I asked for his recommendations on some good new music, bought it blindly and ran the hell out of there. I've given up on mustaches after this incident, but I haven't given up on that Thee Headcoatees record he sent me packing with. So, thanks for that, Amoeba.

aMoEbA KICKS MAJOR ASS. I COLLECT VINYL RECORDS AND IT'S THE PERFECT PLACE WHERE I ACTUALLY FEEL THE MOST ALIVE. I MAKE ASHTRAYS AND BOWLS OUT OF VINYLS ALSO. MY COLLECTION, ALIKE MOST COLLECTORS, VARIES IN GENRES- FROM CLASSIC ROCK, POST PUNK, INSTRUMENTAL HARDCORE, AND EVEN SOME OLD SOUL. I LOVE AMOEBA!!!

I knew about this store for a while. But it wasn't until my ex-boyfriend took me on one of our dates that I became in love with it. This year for his birthday we decided to stop by & look around for a bit. He was more of a movie & game lover so we would always head upstairs right away. This time I told him i was going to look for a cd & I would be right up as soon as i was done. I waited in line & bought him a gift certificate, the whole time looking over my shoulder to make sure he wouldn't see what i was up to. Luckily, even though the cashier took a while to finish up the process, my ex-boyfriend didn't notice what i had been up to. When it seemed he was ready to go, I looked in this hands & he had nothing. I asked if he was going to buy anything & he responded not this time. So I gave him a disappointed look & handed him the gift certificate worth $50. He looked at me for a while & then said "No wonder you wanted to look for a cd." I told him I wanted it to be a surprise. So we walked out of the store without buying a single thing. Weeks later we returned & spent the whole gift certificate. Turns out the gift didn't go to waste after all. Even though we are no longer together, we still expect to make time to go to Amoeba together; it was our favorite spot, along with Pink's!

The very first Amoeba I visited was the store on Haight Street in San Francisco but at the time it was still a bowling alley. I was scouting locations for a photo shoot and the client needed to see shots of all the bowling alleys in the Bay Area. So I got permission to shoot, put the folders together, and presented them to the client... only to find out at the last minute that this was the last two days of the bowling alley and Amoeba was opening another location in San Francisco. The next time I was on Haight Street I went in to the store and thought it made the perfect location for the new Amoeba. Although I now live in Moab, Utah I still visit the stores in San Francisco & LA and buying music and movies is always a pleasure. Here's to the next twenty years!

I'm from Mexico and went to San Diego with my family for vacations. Of course, being that close to LA I needed to go to Amoeba for my second time! So, my wife, baby daughter and me jumped into a car and drove all the way to Los Angeles. Of course we got lost! Being aware that the store closes at 11, I began to get nervous that we weren't going to make it on time because we still needed to find a hotel to stay the night in. Los Angeles is a REALLY big town, so I drove around and around until I spotted a Ramada. It was way more expensive that my initial budget, but it was then around 9 PM so I was really, really sad that i was going to be able to stay for less than I expected in the store (I was planning to be there for no less than 4 hours). Of course my wife was very, very angry and she told me: go wherever you want to go, I'm staying here with the baby! It turns out that the hotel was in the middle of Korea town and luckily, it wasn't that far from Hollywood! So I dropped my girls there (my wife being still mad at me), asked for directions at the front desk (hoping not to get lost again) and rushed to the store. Fortunately, the directions I got were very easy and arrived to Amoeba like 20 after. I wasn't able to be there the four hours planned, but I took advantage of the hour and a half I was there and bought around 15 used cds. The day after, before returning to San Diego, I took my girls to the store so they could get to meet it and despite staying there for only 45 minutes, I bought 5 more cds (and the Peter Pan DVD for my girl!).

When my tiny and unsuccessful band, New Bad Things, toured from Oregon through California in the late 1990s, we played at Amoeba Berkeley. Ten or fifteen people came ot see us, but it took us forever to play--we were going crazy over the awesome collection of T Rex records! I still have that copy of The Slider today.

January 19, 2009 I had a first date that started at Amoeba Hollywood. We met in front of the Newly Added Used section. She gave me a hug hello and accidentally dropped her shopping list pencil, and I picked it up for her. Braving a hell of a storm, I took her the following MLK Day to re-create our first date. We went to the Newly Added Used section of the store and I gave her a pencil to drop. I went to pick it up and when I got up, I had an engagement ring and asked her to marry me. We've been married nearly 7 months now.

I fondly recall the first time I stepped into an Amoeba. It was in the fall of 2002, when I arrived in Berkeley to start my undergraduate college career. I was studying science, but I knew music was always going to be my main passion. After spending my adolescent years in a suburb, knowing only large chain stores which offered little in the way of intriguing (or fairly priced) music, discovering Amoeba was as close to a religious experience as I could imagine. It was this catalyst that inspired me to convince my mom to give me her old record player to take back to my dorm. Between frequenting this record store and working part-time at KALX (UC Berkeley's college radio station), my music fix was near-satiated. A year later, I moved just off Telegraph, a few blocks south of Amoeba. I found it impossible to not stop into the store each time I walked by to and from campus, which ended up being several times each day. As I was then living on a student's meager budget, I found great joy in the used bargain section (especially the 'Buy 3 Get The 4th Free' policy!). I also greatly appreciated the discount offered to those with student ID's. After graduating, I moved to San Francisco, not far from the Amoeba in the Haight. I found myself spending just as much time digging through vinyl and thumbing along rows of CDs at this location as I had in Berkeley. Many a lunch break was spent grabbing a quick bite to allow for more time wandering Amoeba's aisles. After a year in San Francisco, I moved to Los Angeles to follow a career opportunity. I found myself in West Hollywood, once again not far from Amoeba's Hollywood location. At a distance of 3 miles, I found it to be perfect for biking, allowing an excuse to reward myself with a small stack of records with each attempt at exercise. I am now convinced, after consecutively living in all three cities that boast an Amoeba Music, I may never be able to move again for fear of finding myself in a city without one (not to mention the general apprehension of moving now that I have albums that count in the thousands). Each location has it's own unique charm, and, over the past 8 years, I have grown accustomed to my frequent visits. Amoeba has been a constant source of discovering new music, re-discovering old music, making new friends and, yes, even the destination for a few dates. It's more than a record store to me; it's a landmark representing growth of both cultural and personal significance. Thank you for being such a large part of my life, Amoeba!

I love to shop at the san francisco store;it has a large variety of music and movies to chose from.The first time i whet in it was about3-4 years ago, and i couldn't believe my eyes.From then on i was hooked on purchasing items at amoeba music store.thank you for having a wide collection of movies to buy.