The nearly year-old retail store, Amado’s at 998 Valencia St, once the home of the quirky Viracocha, packed up its clothing and shoe inventory on Friday and swept the ground floor clean.
Amado’s basement performance space will remain open and this month’s shows sold out, said Al Ribaya, one of the partners involved in the enterprise.
“To be honest, we are still trying to see what direction to go in,” Ribaya said, but there are no plans to close the basement venue.
The store was doing “fine” but “retail is a little soft” and beyond that, he added, “It is hard to find people” to work in the store. The latter has been an issue for stores throughout the Mission District.
But a much bigger issue has been the rent spikes. In the last couple of months several Valencia stores have announced they are closing or moving because of rent increases and online sales including Ginko, Multikulti and nearby Ruby’s.
Retro Fit will be closing on Valencia because of a rent increase, but hopes to find another home in the Mission.
Boo hoo