October 11, 2006
Tower Records Goes Down the Drain
Whoooooosh! What's that giant sucking sound? Oh yeah - it's the sweet reverberation of another record store totally biting it and going out of business in this era of iTunes. In this case, we've got Tower Records bowing out of the business, a fact that, though it feels inevitable, saddens us all the same.According to an AP article that ran in the Post,
On Friday, after a 29-hour auction, most of the bankrupt music retailer's assets were sold to liquidation firm Great American Group, which bid $134.3 million. The company outbid Albany, N.Y.-based retailer Trans World Entertainment by a mere $500,000.Though Tower is a national chain, I have super fond memories of all the local stores scattered around the area. My particular favorite was the one on Route 7, where I bought my first-ever CD (Radiohead's The Bends), a purchase that sent me on the downward spiral of total music obsession and cost me a fortune spent on weekend shopping binges at the store during high school.
DCist Hemal has her memories of Tower too, saving her from Tysons purgatory:
I was working at the most soul crushing job ever in the paved hell of Tysons corner my first year out of school. I'd escape into the tower records two to three times a week during my lunch break and browse through the CDs, trying to reconnect with something artistic for a few minutes before I had to go back and be an office bitch.And DCist Matt says:
I remember when my right-wing Christian ex-girlfriend broke up with me and I went out and bought Bad Religion's Against the Grain and a couple of other great punk records at Tower, and I remember thinking, "Aaah, freedom."See? Even though Tower might have had insanely high prices, often-snooty employees, and happily shilled talentless Top 40 artists, it still managed to resonate with some people in the area. Well, maybe not with DCist Ian:
I'm hoping for a FUTURE Tower memory in which they eventually start having stuff marked down to the point where I can finally take revenge for years of having to take it in a very uncomfortable place from Tower once I reached the cash register.Point taken. But still, I, personally, can say that I'll kinda miss it. And one more bonus: keep your eye out for out-of-business deals at the stores as the weeks go on.
Do you have any memories (good, bad, or ugly) of Tower Records?
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The first record I ever bought on my own was CrazySexyCool by TLC. Wayyyy better than The Bends.
whatever helps you sleep at night, rusty. :)
Does shoplifting the Foggy Bottom store blind count?
totally. it's your fault they went out of business, isn't it??
Your first CD was The Bends- how old are you?
good riddance. i've worked next to the route 7 tower records for the last 5 years. i went inside once during that entire time and never went back, prices were outrageous and the selection didn't include anything that i couldn't find at best buy.
i was about 15 when the bends came out. i was a late adapter. also, much of my music collection up till 13 or so was terrible cassettes, like NKOTB.
i bought a good cd by bad company from an ugly girl... that's my good, bad, ugly story about tower.
I went there yesterday and realized why they are going out of business. What a sale, 10% off on CD's!!! Too bad the two CD's I wanted were at Circuit City and Best Buy for $11 but $19 and $22 at Tower. Hmmm, $11+11=$22 or $11+19(x10% off)=$27 at Tower. Also, they told me that they would not price match at all. Easy choice, great selection can now be found on the internet and not Tower Records.
Good riddance.
Let's all celebrate by checking out local indie shops like Crooked Beat, Strangeland and CD Cellar!
Actually it was $22 vs $37, sorry about the error
This is embarassing, but at the age of 14, I used to beg my grandparents to take me to the Tower in Rockville (they lived in Potomac) so I could browse their import section for Oasis b-sides. I will always have fond memories of Tower for that reason, even if I was paying $11 for 3 or 4 songs.
I was at the Tower on Route 7 a few months ago browsing through the jazz cd's when I came face to face with a giant poodle! It was calmly standing next to it's owner, but it caught me by surprise. Props to Tower for being pet-friendly!
Frank: your point is well-taken about Tower's prices, but it's not really fair to compare them to Best Buy or CC. Those chains sell CDs for less than they pay for them wholesale in order to get customers in the door. It's not a business model that any CD-only store can reasonably be expected to compete with.
With that said, Tower's prices were pretty bad. Not FYE bad, but certainly not very good, either.
Where are Strangeland and CD Cellar located?
I vaguely remember seeing the Foo Fighters perform a free show at Tower Records back when I was in middle school...
And one thing I always liked about Tower was that they carried zines--not many mainstream stores do. But yeah, I'll be waiting until the cds are at least 30% off.
http://www.strangelandrecords.com/main.php
http://cdcellar.net/
for locations for those two stores.
CD Warehouse is also a stellar indie music shop. I try to buy my stuff there, but actually, for a chain store Borders (especially the one at 18th and L) is pretty damn good too. Especially for jazz. Then again you can get it all at Olson's.
Crooked Beat is great for when you're looking to pick up the latest album by some ultra-obscure Swedish twee-pop outfit on pink vinyl, not because it's any good, but because you think it makes you hip to name-drop it to your friends. Their miniscule selection, however, comes nowhere near what Tower offered. Sure, Tower stocked your average Top-40 artists, but their punk, metal, blues and import sections were a hell of a lot better than what the smaller places around town can offer.
Now if only Baltimore's Sound Garden would locate a store down here, then the balance would be restored. That place is what a record store should be: A selection that puts even Tower to shame, a helpful staff, and it's always full of customers.
I just moved to DC a few months ago so I'm still scoping out all the record stores. I did go to Tower last night when I heard about the going out of business sale, but 10% off of $18.99 is still way more than I'm going to pay for any CD.
I grew up in Maine where there's a great small chain of record stores called Bull Moose. They are the ultimate local record store, you can get most new releases there for $13 or less, and all their stores carry a healthy selection of used CDs. On that front, I found the CD Exchange up in Adams Morgan to have a great selection of used stuff, I bought about 30 of their $1 discs last weekend, though I find the fact that most of their discs are kept behind lock and key to be rather off-putting.
I really prefer to buy my CDs in a store rather than buy music online. For one thing I prefer to keep local businesses and music stores in general operating, as buying music online is rather soulless. The other thing is that buying music on iTunes presents problems when you want to transfer it to different computers and stuff like that. The music is always creepily coded with the information that you bought it on iTunes.
That said, I'm so far dissappointed with the local music stores here in DC. I've been to Olson's and Melody Records near my apartment in Dupont Circle, and found both stores to be overpriced (though not as bad as a Tower or FYE), and rather lacking in inventory. I also stopped by Crooked Beat in Adams Morgan which was very cool but obviously catering to a very specific niche market. In fact I was amazed to see that a shop with such a specific audience was still in business.
Any other good music stores in the area?
"I vaguely remember seeing the Foo Fighters perform a free show at Tower Records back when I was in middle school..."
My GOD I'm OLD!
The last CD I bought from Tower was "Kid A" back in 2000, from the one in 2000 Penn. I haven't browsed the store in years, though I do go through it occasionally. I remember the time in 1992 I saw Michael Jackson in the late Tower Video on the other side of the building. Nothing exciting like that ever happened to me in Tower Records.
I got my first CD in 1986. I think I'll go to Amazon and look for some more.
I remember lying to my parents so that I could camp out in front of the Tower records by GW the night before tickets to a Morrissey concert went on sale.
It was me & my friend, and a handful of other morose souls. Someone brought a couch that they were going to throw away and it was like a weird little hipster hobo party. I suppose with the internet no one camps out for tickets any more...
thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Oddly the news out of California on this (where Tower is based and started -- in the back of Tower Drugs in Sacramento) is not really that iTunes killed Tower but that much better quasi-indie record stores killed them. Amoeba and Rasputin been at the top of the list.
You've never been in a record store until you've been to Amoeba in SF, Berkeley or LA. You think you have, but if your record store has any less square footage than a bowling alley or grocery store -- than you really haven't had the Amoeba experience. They even had great classical and avant guarde sections (you have to have everything to fill all that space).
Tower will be missed in DC because it was one of the best places to buy vinyl. It did had a broad enough selection that there were always good finds.
Crooked Beats needs better editors. And the other record stores need to catch up with the last 5 years of music.
And don't be embarrassed to have bought Oasis. They are still considered tops by the entire rest of the world other than the U.S.
I could always count on Tower to sell me a crappy CD for 25 bucks when I most needed it. This does not surprise me at all.
i was at that free foo fighters show in middle school as well, although my fondest memories from that rockville store were from camping out all night to get HFStivlle tickets.
I'm old enough to remember when they first opened and thinking, "Damn. They've got Ken Nordine on vinyl! This beats the tar out of Kemp Mill."
Of course, that was back when cars could get 40 rods to the hogshead and that's how we liked 'em.
I have no opinion one way or the other on Tower, but it's generally pretty sweet to see anything from Suckramento fail. If there were a Sac-ist, I would be curious to see what readers thought the fate of the Tower District would be. True, the district came before the stores, but Tower has three sprawling store there divided between books, music, and movies, so their closing can't help but create some sort of void that the cultural wasteland of Sac will have a hard time filling.
anyone know what the deal is with tower video? are all the dvds on sale too?
The DVDs are on sale, but they're only at 10% right now, so it's not worth browsing yet.
As I see it, the closing of Tower Records is simply the latest sign of the damage wreaked upon the music retailing industry by the music industry.
When I first started shopping there, $5.98 list LPs went for $4.44, and $6.98 list LPs went for $4.66. Tower never charged list price for anything. Even as prices headed upwards, Tower's prices remained below list. If I recall correctly, $8.98 list LPs went for $7.44.
When CDs hit the market and started to become popular, Tower was one of the first places to offer lower prices. By the mid-eighties, a regularly priced CD was $11.99. Of course, this was not sustainable, and prices soon went up again, settling at around $14.99 by the time The Beatles catalogue became available on CD.
After that, however, things began to change. Formerly independent labels (A&M, Chrysalis, Island, and, later, Virgin) were bought out by major labels. Sony bought the CBS Records Group, Universal/MCA bought PolyGram, and Bertlesmann bought the RCA Records Group. More recently, Sony Music and BMG Music merged to form Sony BMG.
As the industry consolidated, the major labels gained increasing power over prices. Though they officially abolished list prices, the majors subsequently began using wholesale prices to make sure that CDs were priced at or close to list prices at retail.
This is where the obsecenely high prices at Tower (and other record-store chains) that many have mentioned come in. For one thing, wholesale prices are high enough that it is difficult for music retailers to offer lower prices and still make a profit on the music they sell.
Then, of course, there is the competition from discount retailers, consumer electronics chains, and internet retailers. Stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, and Target are able to use CDs as loss leaders to get people in their stores to buy the products that do generate profits for them. Stores like Tower do not have that flexibility, as music and videos are essentially their only products.
Internet retailers often have the advantage of not having to worry about stocking so much physical inventory. (Of course, they have to be able to get it from somewhere, but they don't necessarily have to keep it in their own facilities. Think "usually ships in 2-3 business days" or "usually ships in 1-2 weeks".) Stores like Tower, on the other hand, have to have the product in the store in order to sell it.
Label support for advertising and promotion is also another factor. Best Buy can put new CDs on sale for $9.99 because they don't have to worry about label support; they make their money elsewhere. Stores like Tower, on the other hand, can't do things like that on a regular basis without risking that label support - without which they're pretty much screwed.
Then, of course, there's the general consensus that the music industry is foisting a lot of crap on us these days, which is why iTunes and other services that enable consumers to download individual songs are becoming so popular these days.
So, one can make a case that Tower has failed to adapt to a changing marketplace. One could also argue that downloading and the iPod have helped do the company in - though I don't buy that argument, since downloading still accounts for a relatively small segment of sales.
My conclusion is that the music industry has made it difficult for music stores to compete on price, resulting in CDs being more expensive than they should be. (After all, you can buy DVDs for less that have more in the way of content, with or without extras.) Consequently, as we see with Tower, they are being killed by the competition, who operate under few, if any, such restrictions.
For what it's worth:
I worked at the Tower at Tysons for a few years, starting in 1994. One of my first days was the day Kurt Cobain died and people actually *called the store* to ask if it was true. Silly as that may seem, I think that easily sums up people's feelings about Tower. Prices could be high, employees could be comically indifferent, but the store had cache. And most of all, it was inclusive. Are you a fan of abstract Scandinavian free jazz? They stock it. Are you a lesbian into body modification? They carry books and magazines about it. Do you want to buy a popular new release at midnight in a store full of fans, blasting the new tracks over the sound system? Tower's open for you. And this extended to the employees. Lots of us were passionate about music and passionate about being individuals. This was one of the only places where we could work and be ourselves, share our knowledge of music, be it death metal or classical. We got benefits we'd never imagined and we always had the opportunity to move up the ladder. Tower gave a lot of people a chance they wouldn't have found elsewhere, started a lot of strong friendships, and sold a lot of great music. Best wishes to all those Tower folks who need to find new jobs now. I hope you all find yourselves in a good place.
I can vouch for the Amoeba Record in the Haight. Holy good sweet jizzing Jeebus. That place is unbelievable.
The last time I went into a Tower was last December in the East Village, as I waited for Other Music across the street to open up.
Still, I give Tower credit for exposing me to books and zines that came from far outside the suburban point of view. I imagine that Tower's unsung quality is the way it proliferated alt-culture through words.
Now, anyone wanna get nostalgic for the old Penguin Feather head shops disguised as record stores?
The indie stores are great, but they don't have the most extensive collection and they only have one location. I realize this is DCist, but not everyone grew up in the city.
I would have to drive about 45 minutes to Manassas to get to the Sam Goody in the Mall. Once I got there, they didn't have much past Reba, Garth, and Richard Marx. So, the first time I saw a Tower Records, I was in heaven - they seemingly had everything. As my location and maturity in music have evolved, I have weened myself off of Tower. However, they are still an excellent resource for all genres of music. And, if you want something past the indie-band-of-the-moment, they are the place to go.
There is plenty of room for the Crooked Beats and the Towers of the world to coexist. In fact, when the new Guy Clark comes out in a few weeks, I'll bet that Tower has a better shot of carrying it than Crooked Beat because the Country selection at most music stores is pretty embarassing.
I will miss Tower, and I wouldn't contribute the downfall to one competitor - Amazon, Best Buy, iTunesc and Borders have all contirbuted to the downfall.
This brings back memories of the first record I bought at the Sunset Tower store; "Gidget Goes To Hell" by Suburban Lawns. I'll miss their great book/magazine offerings, which had many things thar are kind of hard to find here on Planet Dowdy.
I used to shop at the Foggy Bottom store. I remember when I happened to stop in when the Bangles were having a live appearance. Susanna Hoffs gave me a terrific look from across the room. I just know she wanted me! ;-)
A couple of things:
1. Crooked Beat is a niche store that bills itself as that - check their web site.
They "specialize, focus and expose hard to find Punk/Indie/Import CDs and LPs as well as Hard to Find Collectibles." They don't claim to be the end-all be-all of every genre.
Would you expect to walk into Hot Topic & find a nice pair of flat-front khakis?
Would you go to Ann Taylor looking for tie-dye?
They are specialty store & they're not for everybody - but for some, they are perfect.
2. When was the last time somebody at Best Buy shared any cross-references or background info on a band you asked about? The last time you wound up talking music with fellow customers or had a musician-sighting at Wal-Mart? Even better, when was the last time they special ordered a title for you or even bothered to stock vinyl at all?
3. You can blame the high prices & more frequent closings of indepedent stores on the evil people at Best Buy (and other big-box, sell-below-actual-cost operations) and the major labels.
Dave Grohl used to work at the Tower Records by GW, back in the 1980s.
That would be great if they opened an Amoeba in D.C. I've only been to the one in L.A., but that place beats all. Best record store ever.
I remember in the 1990s my wife and I went to Tower for their 30% off sale. we each bought about 6-8 cds. Then we had a blizzard which closed the government for 3 days. It was the best Tower experience ever.