Wow, that store is fucking amazing. I don't know how other San Francisco record stores can stay in business with Amoeba just a few miles away.

Here's what I came back with:

- Sonic Youth - Sonic Death - $19.99

- Sebadoh - The Freed Weed - $14.99

- Edan - Primitive Plus - $12.99 (new)

- Wedding Present - Bizarro - $10.99

- Venetian Snares - Find Candace - $10.99

- Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett - $9.99

- Oneida - The Wedding - $9.99

- Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker - $8.99

- Tom Waits - Bone Machine - $8.99

- Mouse on Mars - Iaora Tahiti - $7.99

- Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album - $7.99

- Pussy Galore - Live: in the Red - $7.99 (completes my Pussy Galore collection, which altogether is worth quite a bit of money)

- Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology - $6.99

- Nick Cave - The Boatman's Call - $5.99

- Frog Eyes - The Golden River - $4.99

- Peppermints - Jesus Chryst - $4.99

- His Name is Alive - Mouth by Mouth - $4.99

- Crass - Penis Envy - $4.99

- Primal Scream - Xtrmntr - $4.99

- Man Man - The Man in a Blue Turban With a Face - $4.99



Basically, I can't go CD shopping for a long time now, but I had some money to spare and it's not like I'll ever be back in San Francisco in the next 5 years at least. I found a lot of stuff I've been looking for cheap (Xtrmntr, among others) and found a lot of other good deals (that Peppermints album just came out a couple months ago). I wish I had a store remotely as good as this within 1000 miles of me.

Jesus.

we'll go to san francisco next summer, i'll save up a few months worth of paychecks and we'll go to record stores every day.

thats a shit load of albums dude.

This is actually two Amoeba trips (I took two trips in 3 days, and combined them here), but yeah, it is a lot. A lot of it is shit I could never find at home though. And it came out to be under $200, I think, for a lot of things I've wanted for a while. I definitely can't buy much for the next couple months though. It will take me nearly that long to get used to all these, anyway.

have you tried the hollywood amoeba? i think it's a pretty decent sized store. and they usually have decent instores there also.

Nope, I want to go to the other two stores, but I don't have the time or the money. I'm actually from Virginia, but I'm on vacation in SF, so I spent as much time in Amoeba as I possibly could while here.

well if you ever get to los angeles, definitely check out amoeba. and if you ever head on over to nyc, check out academy records. it's tiny, but you will find gems for dirt cheap prices. i must warn you though, it smells in there...and i can't really describe the odor.

decent-sized? it's HUGE!!!! 2 stories of absolute heaven.

i can never walk out of there without at least spending $100 or more. it's evil. it sucks you in. and each trip i spend at least 4-5 hours.

when are they gonna get amoeba north? really north.

Tell me about it. I was there for the first time last weekend, and now I see what you LA folks are talking about. I had my two daughters with me, so I couldn't really spend the time I needed.

It was damn crowded for a Sunday afternoon (here in Utah, pretty much everything is either closed or deserted on Sundays). I'd love to have a store half as good anywhere near me.

Got enough IDM/electronica/techno/whateveryouwanttocallit there, dude? Rock on.

Do they do mail order?

Oh mama!!!!! i cant wait, two weeks from tommorow!

I'm hoping their next store will be San Diego, keeping it in CA. However, the people here have pretty lame taste and I don't know if they could sustain it. That's why the SF store is so good--people actually trade in good shit.

I wrote this out on ILM earlier this year and will post one response:

http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=5527679

I lived in San Francisco for seven years, two blocks away from Aquarius Records, and remember a time when the Berkeley store was the only Amoeba. You could only imagine my, or really the whole cities excitement when the word got out that they were going to open a new store in San Francisco. Over time you could really feel how each store was really different and unique in its own way, that is why I didn’t just say Amoeba and leave it at that. I agree with the ambience comment but I took into account a number of factors.

It’s all about selection, selection, selection and than price. I’m into Indie Rock and buy new releases when they hit the streets. Whomever they hired for the San Francisco store, they really know their stuff. A funny thing started happening, you would find the real rare new stuff at the SF store but not in Berkeley. Another example of why SF is king: I always wanted to buy the Electric Soft Parade’s debut but was never a pressing issue. SF has it new for cheap at $9.98 while Berkeley didn’t carry it. Never did get around to buying it and relocated back to the Los Angeles area. Found it used in Hollywood for $14.95 with no copy of it new. Most UK imports new usually run at $19.95 or higher, so either way it was a deal in my mind. There was no way I was going to pay $5 more and would rather do without. Finally made my way back to SF, as I still have my apartment there, and got the album new for $9.98. San Francisco is king because of its unparallel selection. Berkeley has the best prices but evens LA selection is far superior.



The best thing about Amoeba (correct spelling) is their used section. I have spent thousands of dollars at these stores and believe that they have a connection somewhere. There is no other explanation for their fresh inventory week after week. I had a three-week schedule and could never get over that fact of how fresh the inventory was.



Don’t hold your breath for an Amoeba coming to a place close to you. I read an interview with an owner and he said they would never open a location outside of California. Doubt that they would of ever thought of opening a location outside the Bay Area as well. By spending too much time inside each store, I can tell you that the Los Angeles store makes the most money and is really the crown jewel of the three. So maybe there is hope because of the success of San Francisco.

-- BeeOK


I have spent thousands of dollars at these stores and believe that they have a connection somewhere. There is no other explanation for their fresh inventory week after week.

Well, apart from buying a mammoth amount of stuff on site, the store also does off-site buys, including buying the inventories of stores that go out of business. I was working on the Berkeley staff when the LA store first opened, and I remember that they were really psyched about some amazing collections that they acquired; one in particular was an incredible collection of Criterion Laserdiscs, for example.

Doubt that they would of ever thought of opening a location outside the Bay Area as well.

Especially since all three of the owners are pretty hands-on, and they're just not the type of guys who I could see flying around the US all the time, and not the kind of guys to defer control to a fourth party, or to move, etc. I doubt they'd split apart either because they work so much in tandem with each other. It's not the kind of operation that I can imagine them franchising. The stores are still very much a mom n' pop thing, just on a very large scale.

I had a three-week schedule and could never get over that fact of how fresh the inventory was.

It helps when you have a staff of over a hundred people... how many used record stores do you know of that have that?

I’m into Indie Rock and buy new releases when they hit the streets. Whomever they hired for the San Francisco store, they really know their stuff. A funny thing started happening, you would find the real rare new stuff at the SF store but not in Berkeley.

Yeah, Berkeley's surprisingly bad about new indie, especially imports. I used to go up to Mod Lang for tips and try to come back to buy it at Amoeba and Amoeba would often not even have it in the computer yet. But I don't really think the point of Amoeba is the newer stuff. The Berkeley store isn't quite as picked through, and so even though it's smaller, I find a lot more stuff there that *I* look for.

The used jazz is kind of poor at all the Amoeba's, in my opinion. The pieces are in poor condition, heavily picked through, overpriced, dirty, etc. unless you're looking at the wall pieces, whereas you can go to any number of smaller shops and find great 10$/less records that you would NEVER see at any of the Amoebas for under 10 because (a) they'd be overpriced or (b) they'd be taken already — probably by the staff!

-- polyphonic

Best deal:



Luv this rekord.

Worst deal (given the price):



No songs or really any form at all, just bits of drone and snarl tossed in the air and edited together at random. Which is fine if that's what you're expecting. I wasn't.

Well, my favorite SY record is Bad Moon Rising - is it that kind of drone? I haven't gotten around to listening to it yet.

I just want to say that it is not a good thing, when people on this board say that you bought a lot of stuff.

(And I am disappointed that you used the wrong icon for this thread, because this one definitely called for the little red sack.)