[Snowflake]

I used to make pilgrimages to the Sunset classical annex store. Now that was like finding Mecca. The buyers in that store were awesome, same for the New York stores.

My time as a buyer in the Mountain View store was shared by three of us (still all good friends) and I have to say, we had the best classical section (vinyl) in the Bay Area. In the golden days when the dollar was doing better, we could bring in imports from Japan, the UK and France that never saw the lgiht of day in the US from the domestic distributors. We loved it and so did our customer base. When I moved to SF I was the part time classical buyer in a couple of years and it was great fun.

The other special people were the sales reps from the various labels, especially the smaller indie labels, they had the same passion we did for the music.

Tower was a great place to hang out and it was a good place for a bargain. What I also loved was the exposure to many musical genres, I was always hearing something interesting or great (or not so great). Back in the heyday, during the Xmas season, the lines of customers were incredible, sure we lined the pockets of old Russ Solomon (the markup vs. actual cost was astounding, and not just classical) but we'd have pairs on the registers and races to see who could ring up the most in their shifts. Before the days of barcode scanning, this was also fun and a VHS or laserdisc of cartoons on the video screens kept the customers amused while waiting in the long lines.

I remember when CDs came to town, literally. And back then, there were 3 classical discs from Phillips (I still have them, in fact) and they were expensive, $22 a pop. Eventually the prices for a full price, new release classical CD came to $12-13 and all was great for about a year. Then, Tower decided they were not making enough money and raised the base price across the board, first $14 a disc, then $16 and I had stopped buying in a store by then. Amazon, eBay and other places got more of my money than Tower.

Virgin, Wherehouse, they were never an option, never had the selection and the prices were mugh higher than Tower. Borders and Barnes & Noble are a joke, I love looking, but I rarely buy books from them, not when I can get them more reasonably online.

I love Amoeba in the Haight and in Berkely. The store I miss most was Magic Flute on Frderick and Stanyan, now that was a treasure trove for used vinyl.

As I said before, I feel for the employees of Tower, especially the long term ones who have had a career at Tower. The pop buyer in the Bay Street store I ran into on the street here a month ago and we caught up and I asked him about the future of Tower and he said, oh fine, we'll get bought and things will go on as before. The bigwigs of the company raped and pillaged and got all the perks, the big profit cuts, the payola from the labels, you name it. The drones in the stores got very little.

I will always remember the time I did at Tower as a happy time and I am sad at the demise. But how can I be surprised when I have not walked into a store in years? I cannot have been the only one. Even Tower online was unsatisfactory, better selection elsewhere and better prices too. The little guys that are still around get my business in person, but 99% of my purchases are online.

Farewell Tower, you were great fun, I met some dear friends through you and it was great while it lasted.

(sorry for the mega long trip down memory lane)