Tower Records

[Chuck Nessa]

As I said, shit happens.

[Tim McG]

Leopold's, Wherehouse, Sam Goody's, Musicland, Tower... all gone. Only big chains left are Virgin Megastore and FYE. None are gonna be in Baghdad-By-The-Bay. It's all about the indies... Streetlight, Rasputin's, Amoeba.

Streetlight is a great place to buy CDs.

BFrank likes Amoeba, but I have no experience there....but I understand the selection is nothing short of magnificent.

Rhino is another spot worth checking out too, IMHO.

[chris olivarez]

I used to shop at Tower's all the time. This is a sad day but I guess all things do change.

[robviti]

This appeared in Sunday's Boston Globe:

And in the end

Seeing record superstores disappear leaves one fan with bittersweet memories

By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | October 22, 2006

I had a dream, and it had nothing to do with civil rights. I wanted to work at a record store. Not some funky indie outpost but a giant retail behemoth where I could a) be in a room with more or less every album in the world, b) get a discount, and c) tell people what they should listen to. I started filling out job applications in ninth grade and pestered the store managers for years but never got the job.

Eventually I landed a newspaper gig with similar perks. But the death knell for the record superstore -- which sounded louder with the recent announcement that Tower Records is going out of business -- still stings.

Tower isn't cool. The lights are too bright, the product too mainstream, and the clientele is as likely to be shopping for the new Clay Aiken as a Velvet Underground bootleg.

That's the beauty of the place. It's like thumbing through an encyclopedia. No matter what you go in for, you stumble onto something else.

I love trolling for tunes online as much as the next music nut. My current obsession is Pandora.com , a streaming radio site that lets you create countless customized stations. Pour Some Sugar On Me Radio turns me on to new music that has characteristics in common with the Def Leppard song. Shins Radio streams tunes that shares musical DNA with the delightful indie-pop band. It's all so intuitive.

Wandering around Tower Records in Harvard Square last week wasn't. Perusing the Sadies, my eye drifted to Leon Russell. I went looking for Liz Phair and found Wilson Pickett. Thanks to the random wonders of alphabetical proximity, Jesse McCartney is separated from Megadeth by the slimmest margin -- a margin occupied by Mindless Self Indulgence.

I picked up the jewel boxes, held them in my hand, ogled the covers. No, I couldn't sample the music like I can on iTunes. But it's amazing what a weirdly informative vibe you can get from cover art. I remembered thumbing through the bins at my local Wherehouse store in LA's Westwood Village and seeing Emerson, Lake & Palmer's ``Brain Salad Surgery." I was transfixed by the full-lipped skull impaled on metal rods. Here was something fantastical, something heavy and arty and scary.

Which reminds me: This elegy for megastores might as well include a preemptive farewell to CDs. They'll be gone soon enough. As record stores continue failing to compete with the growing legion of downloaders as well as big box retailers (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target, which offer broad discounts but narrow selection), the CD will vanish when digital delivery becomes the norm. Or be relegated, like vinyl, to specialty shops. I won't miss the cheap plastic cases, impossible packaging, or scratch-prone discs. I will desperately miss liner notes.

For all its ease, scope, and economy, the digital world suffers from at least one big deficit: There's no there there. Information abounds and so, in a way, does communication, thanks to the blogosphere and message boards and social networking sites. But the exchange of information is not the same thing as human contact.

You don't make plans to meet a friend at midnight on the Internet to buy a new album the second it comes out. There are no in-store appearances on your computer. Online, nobody sleeps on the sidewalk to be first in line to get concert tickets when they go on sale in the morning. You hit the send button, alone in your pajamas, usually to find out that the show is already sold out.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not grieving for some hippy-dippy analog past. The digital music frontier has given the recording industry a long-overdue kick in the pants -- it provides incredible opportunities for independent artists and intoxicating freedom for consumers.

I'm not even wistful for Sunset Strip slumber parties (full disclosure: I never camped out at Tower Records but my older sister did).

I will say that growing up in LA, the flagship Tower store on Sunset -- with its garish, gargantuan paintings of album covers slung on the side of the building and the most awesome billboard in all rockdom rising high above the Strip -- was basically the center of the universe. The Whiskey and the Roxy were just up the road. Capitol Records was down the street, just beyond Laurel Canyon. The stars themselves lived in the hills just behind the Tower store, and could often be found perusing the bins.

Until a few days ago the marquee in front of the landmark Hollywood store, built in 1969, read: It's The End of the World As We Know It. According to a sales clerk, LA-based liquidators Great American Group, the new owners, replaced the sign Monday with one that simply reads: Going Out of Business Sale.

Now that's poetic, partly because it is the end of an era, but also because this particular ending fills me with hope.

The collapse of the big record stores -- Boston's Virgin megastore on Newbury Street is expected to close its doors Nov. 4, and chains like Sam Goody, Musicland, and Wherehouse have already folded -- signifies the demise of a crippled business model. For years these stores have been stocked with overpriced, poor-quality, board-room-approved product. The privilege of forking over $18.99 for a plastic disc stuffed with filler and maybe two hit singles -- money that lines the suit pockets of Seagrams shareholders -- was bound to lose its charm, file sharing or no file sharing.

It's impossible to know what the recording industry will look like five years from now; questions of how to enforce legal downloading and legislate revenue streams have yet to be resolved. But right now music fans have access to a whole lot of music and, with songs selling for 99 cents a pop (or less, if you're a freeloader), being a music fan is affordable again.

I could wax rhapsodic about the album form, about arc and flow and vision that you can't manage in a 3-minute track. I'll mourn the tactile part of listening to music: holding a lyric sheet and following along with the words as the song plays, getting to know an artist through the art she's chosen as the visual companion to her songs, reading the thank yous. Maybe someone will invent a way for teeny-weeny liner notes to be spit from a slit in the sides of iPods, which will come with a miniature, collapsible magnifying glass. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Good bye, Tower Records. I'll miss you, and good riddance.

[tatifan]

This appeared in Sunday's Boston Globe:

And in the end

Seeing record superstores disappear leaves one fan with bittersweet memories

By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | October 22, 2006

Tower isn't cool. The lights are too bright, the product too mainstream, and the clientele is as likely to be shopping for the new Clay Aiken as a Velvet Underground bootleg.

Now that's poetic, partly because it is the end of an era, but also because this particular ending fills me with hope.

The collapse of the big record stores -- Boston's Virgin megastore on Newbury Street is expected to close its doors Nov. 4, and chains like Sam Goody, Musicland, and Wherehouse have already folded -- signifies the demise of a crippled business model. For years these stores have been stocked with overpriced, poor-quality, board-room-approved product. The privilege of forking over $18.99 for a plastic disc stuffed with filler and maybe two hit singles -- money that lines the suit pockets of Seagrams shareholders -- was bound to lose its charm, file sharing or no file sharing.

I could wax rhapsodic about the album form, about arc and flow and vision that you can't manage in a 3-minute track. I'll mourn the tactile part of listening to music: holding a lyric sheet and following along with the words as the song plays, getting to know an artist through the art she's chosen as the visual companion to her songs, reading the thank yous. Maybe someone will invent a way for teeny-weeny liner notes to be spit from a slit in the sides of iPods, which will come with a miniature, collapsible magnifying glass. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Good bye, Tower Records. I'll miss you, and good riddance.

This seems to me like a really myopic reaction to Tower's demise. Sort of a "What Tower could have done for me, but didn't". Apparently only what she considers the only worthy genre and form of music is important to the industry and consumers. If all that's needed are the two "best" cuts from an album, her business model is already out there in the form of online download vendors.....while we're at it, just tell those silly bands to stop recording those other 10-12 crappy cuts, it clogs up my computer screen!

Good riddance? You mean good riddance to a good many of those very independent labels that have no place to sell their wares now. Don't these people realize that to say screw Tower is to screw one's self?

[Daniel A]

You mean good riddance to a good many of those very independent labels that have no place to sell their wares now.

There's the Internet, of course...

[Brad]

What a bunch of crap. Maybe it was the Clay Aikens of the world that subsidized their having some great and unusual and obscure Jazz records.

[tatifan]

You mean good riddance to a good many of those very independent labels that have no place to sell their wares now.

There's the Internet, of course...

Of course, that's the saving grace. But, it's still a big bite taken out of visibility for new releases, to go without the preorders from Tower, since the likes of, say Borders, are not going to carry full catalog, and usually just shove it in regular stock (and often don't even get things on the shelf by release day). It's harder to get the impact of new releases on the internet, it's a steadier trickle. I wonder if this is enough for many companies to survive? I'm not saying it's all Tower, of course, but it's a bigger loss than any other mega-chain to niche and independant labels.

[Adam]

Leopold's, Wherehouse, Sam Goody's, Musicland, Tower... all gone. Only big chains left are Virgin Megastore and FYE. None are gonna be in Baghdad-By-The-Bay. It's all about the indies... Streetlight, Rasputin's, Amoeba.

Streetlight is a great place to buy CDs.

BFrank likes Amoeba, but I have no experience there....but I understand the selection is nothing short of magnificent.

Rhino is another spot worth checking out too, IMHO.

Rhino closed several months ago.

The problem is that now Amoeba will have something approaching a monopoly. It's average prices are already going up.

[edited for spelling]

Edited October 23, 2006 by Adam

[PHILLYQ]

Last Thursday I went to the Tower on Broadway and West 4th in NYC, to both bargain hunt and to get one last walk through the store. The discs were 20% off, so no great bargains for their full price merchandise. I hunted and hunted and found a half dozen discs(one a 2 disc set) for about $80 with tax. Good, but not great. The selection, however, is pretty well diminished already. The racks looked like they'd pretty well picked over, with lots of blank spaces on the racks. There were signs all over the store that exhorted all to buy now or it might be gone. A litle twinge of sadness after all the times I had shopped there and discovered something new, but life must move on.

[DMP]

Is the Tower "on-line" operation still going?

[Stefan Wood]

Just checked the online site. You wouldn't know that they were liquidating. Everything looks as normal.

[Patrick]

Tower online is not liquidating. They are selling that business separately. Letter from CEO:

Hello,

First, my sincere apology for not writing to you right after the auction. As you may know, we are still in the process of selling Tower.com to one of several potential buyers. Tower.com continues to offer a huge selection of music, movies and books in stock, which means you can start your holiday shopping now and take advantage of their low prices and free shipping on orders of $20 or more.

We also want to thank you for your support of Tower.com as we go through this process. Use coupon code CF53T6A at Tower.com through Friday, November 10 to save an additional 10% off your next order.

Additionally, the Going Out of Business sales are progressing at each of our store locations. Don't miss your last chance to shop at a Tower Records Store nearest you.

Thanks again for your support throughout the years, and we hope to have a great holiday season with you at Tower.com.

Sincerely,

Joe D'Amico

CEO

[Adam]

I went to Tower Sunset in LA last Monday. CDs were 25% off. I bought a few. The workers there suggested coming back in a couple of weeks, and things should be at (get this) 30% off! yee haw!

But they recommended waiting on things that had many copies on the shelves. Unfortunately, in jazz, that mostly meant music by smooth jazz makers. I ended up buying a few non-jazz albums: Os Mutantes, Mutantes, 2 Ethiopiques volumes.

It's unclear whether they will drop box set prcies any more. I'll check it out once more closer to Thanksgiving.

[Edward]

I dropped by Tower Costa Mesa this morning, and all of the CD's (including boxed sets) were on sale for at least 30% off; Latin CD's were on sale for 40% off.

It appears that the sales discount is increasing by about 5% or so every week, with the additional cuts being put into place every Thursday. On another thread, someone quoted a reliable source as stating that the discount would reach 50% by Thanksgiving with further increases of 10% per week taking effect thereafter.

Edited November 4, 2006 by Edward

[BruceH]

I looked for the Artie Shaw box at three different Towers. Of course I couldn't find the damn thing.

[BruceH]

I used to love the Virgin megastore on Newbury Street, Boston, but I thought they went over to the dark side when they got rid of all their vinyl.

[Cali]

Went by Tower Records in Pasadena last night (30% discount at this time). They had over a dozen different titles by Sun Ra in the bin. I had never seen more than one or two titles by him in this store before and I have been going to this store for fourteen years.

Question: Why am I seeing inventory in this store that I've never seen before? I'm seeing other classic titles for the first time in this store. Are they stocking the shelves with things they've had all along or are they bringing in items from other stores?

[Big Al]

I went to the Dallas store last night. Pickin's are still pretty good despite the fact that I only found three things from my wishlist (Miles Prestige Quintet box, Whistle Stop RVG, Let Me Tell You About It RVG). But it did make me long for the days when Tower had everything on my wishlist, none of which is particularly obscure (some OJCs, the Byrd Transition sessions). Still, there are a few items I left on the racks in hopes that they'll still be there when the 50% clearance comes around.

[kh1958]

Al,

What was the percentage off at the Dallas store?

Thanks!

On Wednesday it was still 30% off CDs, plus a 10% election day reduction, plus the 5% off coupons that were emailed.

[Chuck Nessa]

I feel sorry for Russ Solomon. He did a fine thing and I hope he doesn't feel defeated.

Pick over the bones boys.

[slide_advantage_redoux]

I dropped by the Dallas location a couple of weeks ago and actually had two or three CDs in hand, but then I looked at the regular price. $18.95?? Sure, 30% off is nice, but when they have that kind of a head start it kind of sucks. I put them down and walked out.

[Kalo]

Stopped by the Harvard Square Tower last Wednesday and the jazz and classical sections were decimated, though discounts were still only 30% off.

All of the Criterion DVDs were gone, too.

Still plenty of rock and pop stuff in the bins, though.

[BERIGAN]

Tons o' stuff at the one in the ATL still. I was there for a very special one day only sale, with an additional 10% off the 30 % off price!(on cds only) I thought they were to be out of biz by about this time??? Not that I want them gone, just thought mid November they would be closed up. They should have waited a few more weeks, and had 30% off during December and made it thru the end of December at least.....and these liquidators know what they're doing, eh???

Edited November 13, 2006 by BERIGAN

[Stefan Wood]

The Towers are still restocking. Went to a couple of stores in Northern Va, and one was depleted, while another still looking full. Perhaps different locations will close on different dates? I really went after the latin cds, as they were 40% off. Picked up a bunch of the Fania/Tico/Alegre reissues at $8 each.