Amoeba Growing Pot-Based Business

Amoeba Music in Berkeley, Calif., has hosted performances and moved literal tons of records over the past 26 years, and was approved by the city for a license to open a cannabis dispensary Sept. 20. Along with another application, the record store’s proposal to have Berkeley Compassionate Care Collective take over the area currently used for a jazz section was approved, bringing the number of licensed dispensaries in the city to six.

“We need supplemental income. That’s the real truth,” Amoeba co-owner David Prinz said in an interview with the East Bay Express. “This helps keep us open and enables us to do some amazing (things).”

The SF store already has a medical marijuana doctor available to patrons on site, though it may still be several months before the Berkeley store conforms with the city’s requirements well enough to actually begin selling pot.

Amoeba also claims its Hollywood location houses the largest collection of music under one roof in the world.

That building was sold in October for about $34 million, according to Consequence of Sound. Although rumors that the Hollywood location is destined for the wrecking ball have been swirling, Amoeba recently tweeted it plans to stay in its current Hollywood location for the remaining “several years” on its lease, and potentially longer.