People hoping to buy new and used books and vinyl records will be sad to see that Mad Monk Center for Anachronistic Media on 2454 Telegraph Ave. is now closed.
Mad Monk Center for Anachronistic Media, or Mad Monk’s, closed suddenly last week after two years of operation.
The last day the record and book store was open was Feb. 25, according to Jose Salcedo, Rasputin Music’s weekend manager.
The owner of Mad Monk’s, Ken Sarachan, as well as Mad Monk’s employees were making plans to reformat the store up until the last day the store remained open, according to Salcedo.
Salcedo confirmed that Mad Monk’s is now permanently closed. Salcedo said the decision to close the store was very sudden. Employees were laid off without prior notice, and Salcedo said he believes even the CEO did not plan this.
Mad Monk’s will not be relocating to a new location, according to Salcedo. The vinyl records have already been sent to Rasputin Music and Mad Monk’s books will be redistributed to various Rasputin locations.
Mad Monk’s prided itself on the fact that it only sold books and records. On its website, it states, “NO DIGITAL MEDIA! Mad Monk is Berkeley’s haven for New and Used Books and Records!”
According to its website, Mad Monk’s had the largest collection of new and used records on the West Coast. The store also housed more than 100,000 new and used books.
Janne Brockman, a manager at Anastasia’s New and Vintage Clothing — also owned by Sarachan — previously told The Daily Californian that Mad Monk’s is unique in comparison to other bookstores in Berkeley because it reaches “smaller niche genres,” offering material that is “hard to find, with rare information.”
“It was a unilateral decision. The CEO just woke up one night and said to close the whole thing,” Salcedo said.