TOWER RECORDS CLOSING DOORS

John Casler · « **on:** 7 Oct 2006, 05:58 pm »

The end of an era

Yep, the whole chain is Kaput.

Sales started a few minutes ago in all the stores, the most famous of which is about 3 miles from me, on the SUNSET STRIP.

Spent many hours there checking out CD's and Chickedees

Sale Pricing will start at about 10-15% off and escalate as stock dwindles.

Might be the signalling of a bygone era, of Saturday Morning at TOWER going through the bins of new arrivals and cutouts.

John Casler · « **Reply #1 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 06:08 pm »

News story

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15699444.htm

John Casler · « **Reply #2 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 06:20 pm »

Quote from: tvad4 on 7 Oct 2006, 06:13 pm

Yup. The Tower Records store on Sunset was THE record store in LA for years. Sad to witness the end of an era...

Of course there is always the VIRGIN MegaStore right up the street, but they may be slipping too.

John Casler · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 06:22 pm »

This is the one.

http://www.towerrecords.com/stores/store.asp?storeID=t17131

zybar · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 07:00 pm »

Can't say I am surprised.

I buy almost all my music over the internet and just have it shipped to my house.

Most stores (not including Tower) just don't keep enough inventory to make it worth the trip + their prices are usually higher.

Obviously not a winning combination.

George

Jim N. · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 07:51 pm »

I spent a large portion of the 70's and 80's going up to Tower on the Strip looking for import LP's, often on the way back from Moby Disc in The Valley.

The Strip itself was still something to experience back then. Great clubs with great music and a freakshow live 24/7 on the streets. An acquaintance used to work at Jay Ward Productions (Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Fractured Flickers, etc) which was also on the Strip housed in a bunch of intertwined vintage Hollywood bungalows with a statue of Rocky and Bullwinkle out front.

I gave up going to the Tower down the street (South Bay) years ago except when they had their 7.99 sales. I got tired of not finding the titles that I wanted in stock along with full MSRP pricing on much of the stock. The Wherehouse had it's flagship store across the street from that Tower (Tower opened later). Watching that Wherehouse expand to triple it's original size and then contract and disappear was sad. Licorice Pizza and Music Plus used to be decent chains. That one corner (Hawthorne and Sepulveda) once had a Tower, Wherehouse and Licorice Pizza (later Music Plus). Soon it will have no music stores.

When I venture out for CD's I usually hit the independent stores that sell used and obscure titles. Otherwise it's all Amazon (and Amazon Marketplace) or CD Japan.

Still, it's sad to see the B&M stores go.

JoshK · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 07:54 pm »

Is Sunset strip in hollywood around where the Roxy and Universal Amphitheater are? If so, I've been to that one too.

JoshK · « **Reply #7 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 07:59 pm »

But yes, I am not surprised either. Music is one of the areas where the brick and mortar store offers less service and higher prices. Online you have more selection, less overhead (only need one huge warehouse), can allow preview, cheaper prices, etc. Usually shipping is equal to tax, so that nets out, or close to anyway.

John Casler · « **Reply #8 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 07:59 pm »

Quote from: JoshK on 7 Oct 2006, 07:54 pm

Is Sunset strip in hollywood around where the Roxy and Universal Amphitheater are? If so, I've been to that one too.

Close to the Roxy, but a ways from the Universal Amphitheater.

John Casler · « **Reply #9 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 08:00 pm »

Quote from: JoshK on 7 Oct 2006, 07:59 pm

But yes, I am not surprised either. Music is one of the areas where the brick and mortar store offers less service and higher prices. Online you have more selection, less overhead (only need one huge warehouse), can allow preview, cheaper prices, etc. Usually shipping is equal to tax, so that nets out, or close to anyway.

Their only advantage is when you have to have it "NOW"

Steve Eddy · « **Reply #10 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 08:28 pm »

Quote from: John Casler on 7 Oct 2006, 06:22 pm

This is the one.

Yeah, that may be the most famous one, but this one is THE one. The first Tower Records store. On Watt Avenue here in Sacramento.

http://www.towerrecords.com/stores/store.asp?storeID=t17113

The second one was at 16th and Broadway, also here in Sacramento. Across the street from Tower Drugs, owned by Russ Solomon's father, and where Russ first started selling records. That's the store I grew up with and have been going to for some 40 years now.

Truly a sad day.

se

Papajin · « **Reply #11 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 08:38 pm »

I must say I'm not shocked to see this either. All the stores in the Chicago area are much newer so I don't have any sentimental attachment to Tower. I gave up going there quite some years ago due to the fact that most of their CD's were far too expensive. Why go to Tower when right across the street is Best Buy selling the exact same CD for $5 less ya know? The local store here was smallish and didn't really have a whole lot to offer that would attract me even before I started doing most of my CD buying over the internet.

Most of the record shops I frequented when I was in High School are long gone, though one place that was called Dog Ear Records is still there though they apparently changed the name slightly.

Freejazz · « **Reply #12 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 09:16 pm »

"A Sad (but inevitable) Day in Mudville"

For you slightly older guys - do you remember the first time you went into a Tower Records?

As a young adult, having been raised on the joys found and purchased from E.J. Korvettes, it seemed like there were MILES of vinyl ... and imports, the likes of which one had never before seen?? Talk about feeling like a kid in a candy store!!

I remember walking out of the store once in Foggy Bottom, in Washington DC, after an OJC 3.99 vinyl sale, with eight full bags of lps! Man, did I discover a lot of incredible music from that store!

Once transferred for business to Kansas City, MO, I would shop each time I would be on business or personal (yes, a most wonderful wife) travel, the LA, Sunset Strip store, both the Greenwich Village store on lower Broadway and the Lincoln Center store in NYC. and the store on Columbus in San Francisco ... yes, for me it is a sad day.

Unfortunately, eventhough I am now living in New York, the market changes and Tower's own problems had left them only a shell of their former glorious selves. Prices were typically $3-5 per disc higher than comparables. On many of my trips to the second floor classical or jazz department in Greenwich Village, I found myself as the only person in the entire department ... the proverbial rolled bowling ball would not hit another person (quite often not even an employee!)

With the exception of the occasional impulse or "must have" purchase, I, like so many others, have long since migrated to great smaller stores and on-line shopping.

Here's to Tower and the joys that it brought.

Long live Amoeba, Reckless Records, Jazz Record Mart, Dusty Groove, Other Music, Downtown Music Gallery ... and so many other smaller vital stores!!

Steve Eddy · « **Reply #13 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 10:23 pm »

Quote from: Freejazz on 7 Oct 2006, 09:16 pm

For you slightly older guys - do you remember the first time you went into a Tower Records?

I can't exactly remember THE first time as I must have been just 5 or 6 at the time (this would have been around '65 or '66). But I do have some foggy memories of the store at that time, particularly I recall the listening booths they used to have along the back wall of the store so you could listen to a record before you purchased it. I think this may have been before everything was shrinkwrapped in plastic.

se

JohnnyLightOn · « **Reply #14 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 10:45 pm »

I know this is sacrilege for music lovers, but I'm glad they're closing. And I hope their former owners lost all their money. I blame Tower for being a key player in the music industry greedfest that caused kids to turn to illegal downloading. They reaped profits off the obscene prices of CDs for 15 years after CDs came out. Selling CDs for $15.99, $16.99, and $17.99. You can say, "Just don't buy them," or "It's a free market," but for kids, when there's no other way of getting the music they love, before Best Buy, before the Internet, they had few other choices.

If the industry and the retailers had priced CDs fairly, and had not tried to squeeze every penny out of the kids, perhaps there would be more respect for intellectual property today.

ehart · « **Reply #15 on:** 7 Oct 2006, 11:55 pm »

Well, based on rememberances here, the original Tower in California was obviously a better record store than the ones I remember in the late 70's in Chicago. The Tower I knew was a chain store with staff who didn't know anything about music, and which put the local stores out of business. So I'm not sorry to see them go.

On the other hand, I do worry about declining CD sales in general.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #16 on:** 8 Oct 2006, 12:55 am »

Bummed out day today....

As I left for work , I passed my local Tower here on Long Island, and they had the "Going Out Of Business" sign up.

The store is like three blocks away....open till midnight everyday...and I'd stop there at least twice a week to check things out....and buy it "now".

Now....I'm left with what's here....Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, Target....never have the hard to find cd's, imports, jazz, ect.......
This sucks !!!

I'll miss them......

Chris

boead · « **Reply #17 on:** 8 Oct 2006, 02:45 am »

Quote from: ehart on 7 Oct 2006, 11:55 pm

Well, based on rememberances here, the original Tower in California was obviously a better record store than the ones I remember in the late 70's in Chicago. The Tower I knew was a chain store with staff who didn't know anything about music, and which put the local stores out of business. So I'm not sorry to see them go.

On the other hand, I do worry about declining CD sales in general.

Yup, here on Long Island we had a place called Titas Oaks and another called The Wax Museum. There were lots of others but these were famous. The Wax Museum was just off Sunrise Highway and another major east/west route out to eastern L.I. and the Hamptons. Many famous rockers from the 70’s would stop by; apparently the store owner was well known by industry people. He always had lots of cool stuff, rare records and photos. My friend got a signed Led Zep III there by all four at a documented promo-event.
When Tower Records moved in, in the 80’s all these places went out of business. There are basically no more local record stores.

Now that Tower is gone, all we have is places like Best Buy and Wal-Mart. Very sad indeed. I wills ay though that I get lots of great deal on Amazon.com. Just can’t be in a rush.

Charles Calkins · « **Reply #18 on:** 8 Oct 2006, 02:49 am »

Yo Chris!!
I gave up shopping at the local record(CD) stores because when I went shopping maybe one of the three stores I shop at would have one of the CD's I was looking for. Sometimes I had a list of five or more that I wanted. Unfortunately for our local businesses I now buy all my CD's from Amazon.

Cheers
Charlie

Soundbitten · « **Reply #19 on:** 8 Oct 2006, 03:34 am »

I usually make copies of cds I'm lukewarm on and then trade in the originals for new music . There used to be a number of stores in the area that took in trades , now there is only one left . I guess I could trade on some of the internet sites but that seems like a hassle with all the mailing , postage & waiting .