diff --git a/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go b/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go
index d72ec665d..e1e7463d4 100644
--- a/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go
+++ b/blockstore/splitstore/splitstore.go
@@ -807,6 +807,10 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 	defer markSet.Close() //nolint:errcheck
 	defer s.debug.Flush()
 
+	if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// 1. mark reachable objects by walking the chain from the current epoch; we keep state roots
 	//   and messages until the boundary epoch.
 	log.Info("marking reachable objects")
@@ -815,6 +819,11 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 	var count int64
 	err = s.walkChain(curTs, boundaryEpoch, true,
 		func(c cid.Cid) error {
+			// marking takes a while, so check this with every opportunity
+			if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
 			if isFilCommitment(c) {
 				return errStopWalk
 			}
@@ -831,6 +840,10 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 
 	log.Infow("marking done", "took", time.Since(startMark), "marked", count)
 
+	if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// begin transactional protection with concurrent marking and fetch references created while marking
 	txnRefs := s.beginTxnConcurrentMarking(markSet)
 
@@ -842,6 +855,10 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 		count = 0
 
 		for c := range txnRefs {
+			if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
 			if isFilCommitment(c) {
 				continue
 			}
@@ -906,6 +923,10 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 		log.Infow("update mark set done", "took", time.Since(startMark), "marked", count)
 	}
 
+	if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// 2. iterate through the hotstore to collect cold objects
 	log.Info("collecting cold objects")
 	startCollect := time.Now()
@@ -947,11 +968,19 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 	stats.Record(context.Background(), metrics.SplitstoreCompactionHot.M(int64(hotCnt)))
 	stats.Record(context.Background(), metrics.SplitstoreCompactionCold.M(int64(coldCnt)))
 
+	if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// now that we have collected cold objects, check for missing references from transactional i/o
 	// and disable further collection of such references (they will not be acted upon as we can't
 	// possibly delete objects we didn't have when we were collecting cold objects)
 	s.waitForMissingRefs()
 
+	if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// 3. copy the cold objects to the coldstore -- if we have one
 	if !s.cfg.DiscardColdBlocks {
 		log.Info("moving cold objects to the coldstore")
@@ -980,9 +1009,8 @@ func (s *SplitStore) doCompact(curTs *types.TipSet) error {
 	defer atomic.StoreInt32(&s.critsection, 0)
 
 	// check to see if we are closing first; if that's the case just return
-	if atomic.LoadInt32(&s.closing) == 1 {
-		log.Info("splitstore is closing; aborting compaction")
-		return xerrors.Errorf("compaction aborted")
+	if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
 	// 5. purge cold objects from the hotstore, taking protected references into account
@@ -1232,6 +1260,15 @@ func (s *SplitStore) has(c cid.Cid) (bool, error) {
 	return s.cold.Has(c)
 }
 
+func (s *SplitStore) checkClosing() error {
+	if atomic.LoadInt32(&s.closing) == 1 {
+		log.Info("splitstore is closing; aborting compaction")
+		return xerrors.Errorf("compaction aborted")
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (s *SplitStore) isOldBlockHeader(c cid.Cid, epoch abi.ChainEpoch) (isOldBlock bool, err error) {
 	if c.Prefix().Codec != cid.DagCBOR {
 		return false, nil
@@ -1252,6 +1289,10 @@ func (s *SplitStore) moveColdBlocks(cold []cid.Cid) error {
 	batch := make([]blocks.Block, 0, batchSize)
 
 	for _, c := range cold {
+		if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		blk, err := s.hot.Get(c)
 		if err != nil {
 			if err == bstore.ErrNotFound {
@@ -1300,6 +1341,11 @@ func (s *SplitStore) sortObjects(cids []cid.Cid) error {
 	// compute sorting weights as the cumulative number of DAG links
 	weights := make(map[string]int)
 	for _, c := range cids {
+		// this can take quite a while, so check for shutdown with every opportunity
+		if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
 		w := s.getObjectWeight(c, weights, key)
 		weights[key(c)] = w
 	}
@@ -1402,9 +1448,8 @@ func (s *SplitStore) purge(cids []cid.Cid) error {
 		func(cids []cid.Cid) error {
 			deadCids := deadCids[:0]
 
-			if atomic.LoadInt32(&s.closing) == 1 {
-				log.Info("splitstore is closing; aborting purge")
-				return xerrors.Errorf("compaction aborted")
+			if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+				return err
 			}
 
 			s.txnLk.Lock()
@@ -1461,6 +1506,10 @@ func (s *SplitStore) waitForMissingRefs() {
 	}()
 
 	for i := 0; i < 3 && len(missing) > 0; i++ {
+		if err := s.checkClosing(); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+
 		wait := time.Duration(i) * time.Minute
 		log.Infof("retrying for %d missing references in %s (attempt: %d)", len(missing), wait, i+1)
 		if wait > 0 {