Another small, independent record shop bites the dust. Force of Habit, the little punk shop at 3565 20th Street (at Lexington) appears to be on its way to closing as SFist finds that a new restaurant/café is moving in called 20 Spot. Force of Habit owner "Braindead" Dave Devereaux died last July at the age of 41 of unexplained causes. At the time, his family said they hoped to sell the shop and the online record business to someone who would keep it open, and a Save Force of Habit campaign launched to aid the effort. But it seems that was not meant to be.

Force of Habit was a haven for a certain niche of record geeks, and Devereaux tried to support the local music community by hosting live band performances on the sidewalk outside. Devereaux was also an occasional DJ on Pirate Cat radio, and opened Force of Habit in 2004 after years working at stores like Amoeba.

We've tried to get in touch with the new owners of 20 Spot, but have not yet heard back from them about what their plans are. They had a small community outreach meeting in December, and shared a few of their plans with neighbors. In general, these liquor licenses tend to take a few months to process, and it's not clear when Force of Habit will close.

Update: Though it wasn't immediately apparent, it turns out Force of Habit closed a couple of months ago. The restaurant's owner, Peter Goggin, owns the building and used to live upstairs. The plan is to open 20 Spot by mid-spring.