Now there is only HMV, on one floor, with no headphone stations and more DVDs than CDs.

Seems we are doomed to shopping on-line..

Yeah, I checked that location out and only stayed for about 10 minutes.  Really disappointed in it.  Honestly, Berkeley's Rasputin and Amoeba is stronger overall.  Even Pleasant Hill's Rasputin (closest to me) is way better than SF's Rasputin.  

Well there's your problem...

Big chain stores tend to be crappy since they're more interested in profit than the music, which means stooping to the lowest common denominator and pushing to sell DVDs, clothes, and accessories more heavily than music. There are still plenty of fantastic local record stores all over the place, though, that are in business for the love of the music. 

The Amoeba in SF has a good psych/prog section. I was just down in LA a month ago and went to the Amoeba for the first time. While much bigger, they didn't have a prog section at all :(  Everything was simply in with the general pop / rock section. They still had a great selection but i wish they had it segregated. The Rasputin's in Campbell has a prog section. Luckily there are several of the Raspy's around. All the other's are slowly disappearing. The Streetlight in SF went out but there is one in San Jose and Santa Cruz. Of course i've spent a fortune keeping their doors open 

An additional comment from a non american or UK reader which could complement Sean Trane reply: as a french canadian living in Paris , France (this gives more than one thing in common with Sean; i guess) i enjoy very much going to Gibert Joseph on boul St-Michel, downtown. At first a bookstore, it still features huge selections of videos or records, of which there is a specific section for prog. Actually the whole store is built on the principle of specialised sections (POP, Alternative, Hard/Metal, World and so on ) with senior salesmen well (in)formed. Actually it reminds me of my last job in Quebec city 25 years ago, where i was in charge of the "non commercial musical section" (!) in one Archambault record store, a specific record store chain in Quebec. Honesty forces me to add that still the Gibert cd section is shrinking fast these days, but yet the available space is then occupied by the great vinyl comeback!

I think you are correct about that. Unless it involves a new useless APP then it probably won't last long (except yet another overpriced coffee shop )  

Due to the market being so niche i think we just have to get used to these niche worlds existing online. I mean any prog album is only a click away (assuming it's available at all). Even Amoeba is only making it because they were wise enough to expand into the medical marijuana evaluation biz and the Berkeley one actually has a dispensary. So in effect if it weren't for the determination of the owners to keep a community music store operating, then i doubt they would last much longer either. It's a double edged sword. On one hand i will totally miss the physical hands on experience but on the other hand it's literally never been easier to find anything i can think of just on a few sites on the web.