diff --git a/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc b/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
index 531b85af8..9566e0ae9 100644
--- a/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/filetransfer.cc
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ struct curlFileTransfer : public FileTransfer
         Callback<FileTransferResult> callback;
         CURL * req = 0;
         bool active = false; // whether the handle has been added to the multi object
-        std::string status;
 
         unsigned int attempt = 0;
 
@@ -175,6 +174,7 @@ struct curlFileTransfer : public FileTransfer
             size_t realSize = size * nmemb;
             std::string line((char *) contents, realSize);
             printMsg(lvlVomit, format("got header for '%s': %s") % request.uri % trim(line));
+            std::string status;
             if (line.compare(0, 5, "HTTP/") == 0) { // new response starts
                 result.etag = "";
                 auto ss = tokenizeString<vector<string>>(line, " ");