Amoeba Records owners believe it's high time they add pot dispensary to Berkeley store

Amoeba Music, top right, sells new and used music, and is considering the addition of a pot dispensary to the existing store. Amoeba Music, top right, sells new and used music, and is considering the addition of a pot dispensary to the existing store. Photo: Katy Raddatz, The Chronicle Photo: Katy Raddatz, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Amoeba Records owners believe it's high time they add pot dispensary to Berkeley store 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

In the fight to stay alive, indie music companies like Amoeba Records are having to get creative to keep their heads above water.

One way to keep the business in the black? Offer a side of marijuana to accompany the music.

Amoeba's Berkeley location (the company also maintains storefronts in Hollywood and San Francisco) has been in trouble for some time now, for years struggling to make a profit from record and merchandise sales alone.

The solution, it turns out, may literally be a natural remedy. Amoeba co-owner Dave Prinz has been considering the possibility of attaching a marijuana dispensary to the store, going so far as to apply with the city of Berkeley to open such a business.

"Weed can help save music — absolutely," Prinz told the East Bay Express. "Here's a way."

Prinz is in agreement with the store's other co-owner, Marc Weinstein. After, all, its San Francisco location has already existed in harmony with an upstairs dispensary leasing from Amoeba, so as the owners know, the partnership between cannabis and music can make for an appetizing pairing.

In an interview with Cal Berkeley's The Daily Californian, he said he believes the business would "help anchor Telegraph, benefit bookstores, record stores, cafes and add a lot of very good traffic to Telegraph."

If Amoeba wins the bid — five other business are also vying for the marijuana sales permit within the city — the store will need to do a bit of restructuring. According to Billboard, besides having to build a separate entrance for the dispensary, the record store would move the jazz and classical products away from the room they are currently stored inside and incorporate them into the main store.

Although it seems like a match made in stoner heaven, it won't be quite that simple to build the business. A medical cannabis commission still needs to select a winning bid, and it seems the plan is not unopposed.

An advisory committee chair for the project has publicly criticized Amoeba's position, saying there is too much illegal drug sales on the street by the storefront. "You really don't want people who come in and buy medicine and then reselling it on [the street]... there's a lot of underground dealing going on," committee chair Charles Pappas told Daily Cal.

Fans of the store are nevertheless hoping it works out, because ultimately, the store needs to do something different to continue operating. "We need supplemental income," Prinz said. "That's the real truth."