Amoeba Music reopens in new Hollywood location and retools for COVID era

Vinyl collectors and music fans are rejoicing because their north star, Amoeba Music, is back. The legendary record store opens its new Hollywood location today, just a half mile from the previous store. That one was on Sunset next to the ArcLight. This one is on Hollywood Boulevard.

Amoeba Music closed its old store a year ago, after two decades there. The move was in the works before COVID-19, but lockdowns made it harder to sustain it.

And now that streaming has completely upended physical CD and DVD sales, how does a store specializing in physical albums adapt? Especially with COVID restrictions that limit how many customers can browse at a time.

KCRW’s Andrea Domanick spoke with Amoeba Music co-owner Jim Henderson about in the coronavirus era.