Lounge of Tomorrow - Bye Bye Tower Records

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Bye Bye Tower Records

Yesterday I was at the Buena Park mall looking around Tower Records. As I was leaving the store I noticed a sign in the window that read "everything on sale", then another one which read "everything must go". I thought to myself 'Are they closing the store ? It's barely been open for 3 months!' I took another step and saw another sign which read "store closing". 'Are they going out of business ? I hope not!' Then I saw another sign which read "going out of business". DAMN !!

Quote:

Tower Records to be liquidated; 3,000 are expected to lose jobs

By Randall Chase

The Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. - After a lengthy auction stretching over two days,
a federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the sale of
California-based Tower Records to Great American Group, which plans to
liquidate the music retailer.

After almost 30 hours of what attorneys described as "robust" and
"vigorous" bidding, Great American won with an offer of $134.3 million,
beating Trans World Entertainment, which had hoped to continue
operating at least some Tower stores.

Peter Gurfein, an attorney representing Tower Records, said the company
will be sold for an aggregate of $150 million, including the sale of
various leases and properties.

Gurfein said Great American plans to begin the liquidation process and
going out of business sales today, which eventually will result in the
elimination of the jobs of some 3,000 Tower employees.

"This is not an easy decision," said bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon,
who nevertheless noted that the Tower debtors and other parties had
agreed the bidding process was conducted fairly.

Tower Records, which has 89 stores in 20 states and owes creditors
about $200 million, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in August. In
its filing, the company said it has been hurt by an industrywide
decline in music sales, downloading of online music and competition
from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart.

Tower's Chapter 11 filing came two years after initial reorganization
that resulted in bondholders forgiving millions of dollars in debt but
taking an 85 percent stake in the company, leaving founder Russ Solomon
and his family with 15 percent.

Solomon founded Tower in Sacramento, Calif., in 1960, starting by
selling records out of his father's drug store and eventually opening
the company's landmark store on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard in 1969.
As part of the bankruptcy auction, the Sunset property will be sold for
$12 million.

Hmmm - better bring along my shopping list

me = Tower Employee #3795

I moonlighted at Tower for 10 years to support my vinyl then CD habit. While I find this very very sad, I have to admit, it's been a long time since I walked into a Tower and browsed the racks.

I feel most for the long time long term lower rung Tower employees, Russ Solomon the founder and the bigwigs in Sacramento bled Tower for years. I hope those lower rung management and staff have 401Ks and good options.

Tower was never noted for being overly generous, even after my 10th anniversary, the employee discounts were not close to what they once were. Salaries sucked and the benefits were not great.

But, the fond, fond memories, it was great fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snowflake

me = Tower Employee #3795

But, the fond, fond memories, it was great fun.

yup. the one by me during my youth had THE best head shop in the area.

bye Tower....its been..........uh....

...dewd! I totally forgot what I was gonna say! :p

An era ends. In my view (and filing for chapter 11 seems to be pretty good support for my view), they failed to adapt their business model in a way that kept them relevent to today's music market. Not that I have any brilliant ideas on what a successful model might have looked like, but I knew that wasn't it.

Makes me want to search for a good little music store near our new digs...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt Jack

yup. the one by me during my youth had THE best head shop in the area.

bye Tower....its been..........uh....

...dewd! I totally forgot what I was gonna say! :p

Oh yeah, the San Jose Tower had a great head shop, I was not old enough to go in there when it was still in business, but it was endlessly fascinating to me as I peered at my sister through the window. I totally forgot about the head shops! :-)

I still miss Licorice Pizza

Yep. Saw this the other day at the Cambridge Tower Records. Very sad. :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I still miss Licorice Pizza

And Moby Disc - we grew up down the street from the original.

Remember when Wherehouse went down, only a few years back?

Good riddance. They were always way overpriced. Can't say I ever bought a single CD there.

Might be worth checking a local one out for some out of business bargains though.