For a beloved live music venue in Baltimore, the goodbye tour begins now.

After decades of operation, the 8x10 in Federal Hill will close on June 30, said Brian Shupe, who co-owns the venue with Abigail Janssens.

The husband and wife duo are retiring, shifting focus to taking care of their aging parents. Shupe said 20 years at the helm of the business was always the plan, describing it as their “stewardship” of a venue that first opened in 1983 as Joe’s Organic Juice Bar.

“We really can’t split our time between running the venue full time and being full-time caretakers,” said Shupe, who hopes to find a buyer before the June closure.

Located at 10 E. Cross St., the storied, purple-painted venue is independently owned and operated, an increasing rarity in an industry dominated by corporations like Live Nation and AEG Presents.

The 200-person capacity venue, with its trademark balcony, has become a favorite of fans and musicians alike for its intimacy and sound quality. It’s also a must-stop spot for improvisational jam bands. One claim to fame: The venue, under prior ownership, hosted Phish’s first concert in Maryland on Dec. 7, 1989.

While the venue’s schedule leans toward jam bands, the 8x10 hosts local, national and international touring artists from a range of genres, including electronic dance music, progressive rock, blues, folk and rap. They’ve welcomed Umphrey’s McGee, Papadosio, Gov’t Mule, Little Simz, Galactic and many more.

Shupe said he and Janssens are proud of the 8x10’s small role as a springboard for rising musicians.

“Our greatest joy was taking garage bands and making them club bands, and taking club bands and making them theater bands,” he said. “When the venue acted as a trampoline or a catapult, that’s when we were most proud.”

Shupe pointed to Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, the funk-jam band that formed in University of Maryland, College Park dorms and has now played major festivals like Bonnaroo and Electric Forest.

“They’re playing huge venues and they started at our open mic,” Shupe said. “That’s the joy of seeing bands grow and put the work in and get what they deserve.”

Greg Ormont, frontman and guitarist in Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, said in a statement Friday that the quartet wouldn’t be the band they are today without the 8x10, and noted that its “impact on the Baltimore music scene is immeasurable.”

“I always described The 8x10 as the ideal intimate venue, where the spring-loaded dance floor had bands and fans bouncing in unison, and that’s how I’ll always remember it,” Ormont said.

Shupe said announcing the June closure is mainly logistical: Bands plan and book tours for months in advance, so if they want one last hurrah on the 8x10’s stage, this is their notice. Numerous acts have already reached out about booking one last show, according to Shupe.

The 8x10’s calendar is already filling up through March, with the Grateful Dead tribute band Strangers Stopping Strangers on Jan. 17 and psychedelic folk singer/songwriter Coyote Island on Feb. 19. At the moment, he’s unsure what a final sendoff will look like at the end of June.

After two decades in charge, Shupe said he and Janssens are ready for retirement. They’re taking a lifetime of memories with them.

“We didn’t want to have children, but we’ve got this huge extended family of people that come in and look to us, trust in our choice of music and come to us with their problems,” he said. “It’s kind of crazy but it’s really the longevity of the fan base that has surprised us the most.”