Judge OKs Liquidation of Tower Records

[Newsjock]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4241756.html

WILMINGTON, Del. — After a lengthy auction stretching over two days, a federal bankruptcy judge on Friday approved 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 a bid of $134.3 million, beatingTrans World Entertainment, which had hoped to continue operating at least some Tower stores, by only $500,000.

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 on Saturday.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. No More Tower Records?

Guess I better go check out the liquidation sale at the store near me.

[dddem]

10. be careful

Once a store's inventory is purchased by a liquidator, they can re-price it however they want before they start discounting. They also purchase ALL inventory, including returns, throw everything on the sales floor, and make all sales final. By the time the discount makes it to where it's actually a bargain, there's usually no selection left.
Then again, don't go by me, I can't begin to tell you how much I've spent "saving" money!

[LeftyMom]

2. We knew it was coming, but still.

:sniff: It sucks to see a local institution go. Back when I was a kid they had three neighboring storefronts near me, for movies, books and music. When blockbuster put a storefront nearby the movie shop closed up, then the record store was gone a few years later and the bookstore after that. It'll be really weird going down Watt Ave and not seeing their huge storefront there, or the smaller but packed store on Broadway.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

4. Musicland, Wherehouse....Now Tower

The end of an era, that's for sure. I guess this is the end of storefront record/cd stores for good. The only way to buy music will now be online, or else the small selection at local Target, Costco, etc.

[LeftyMom]

7. We have a few indie places and local new and used music chains

The stores that sell both new and used product seem to be doing well, from what I can see. I used to live just up the road from one and thier parking lot was packed from morning to night. My guess is that it's still cheaper to get used CDs locally than to fool around with ebay fees, shipping, etc. Maybe eventually they'll go under as well as more and more people never get the physical recording at all, but they seem to have some life left.

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. Music Plus also.

In the 70's + 80's.

[Fire Walk With Me]

21. Some of those chains stunk, or at least the ones around here.

Some seemed to rely entirely upon Billboard and lacked much selection outside of that definition. Tower is someplace I regularly shop, for everything from "early" music to outside dance.

I agree in general however, that it is overall a painful diminishing. I don't shop online and don't care to start.

[DBoon]

34. I remember Licorice Pizza

a great record store with an interesting selection of "paraphenalia". Back in the days when you bought cigarette papers at a music store....

[Semi_subversive]

11. Now I'll have to go inside Sunrise Mall to a music store

if they close the Birdcage store. Yuck! And yes, it'll be very strange not seeing the signs at the Country Club store. I stopped buying my books at Tower when I learned Barnes & Noble was a blue company.

[KittyWampus]

13. Hey! you live on long island too?

:hi:

[flamingyouth]

3. Well, I have to say that sucks

I bought a lot of my albums there when I was a kid and I still buy CDs there at their store on Lower Queen Anne in Seattle. I'll miss the place. :(

[keopeli]

16. I always enjoyed that Tower Records on QA.

But, they used to be so much more. They had a bookstore that was great! And their selection has been diminishing rapidly in recent years.

There are still a lot of local stores that sell the stuff. Does Scarecrow sell CDs?

[Evergreen Emerald]

35. Me too. We had a tradition: Harry's bar and grill (with the parrots)

Then after a couple of Electric Ice teas, off to Tower to spend big bucks.

I remember one time I was in Tower on a Saturday afternoon. A big guy was standing next to me and said, "do you know who is standing across from you?" I looked up and standing within touching distance was Rod Stewart. He smiled at me. They guy who talked to me was his body guard. They looked around the store for awhile and left in a limo that was waiting at the front of the store.

[Auggie]

5. Thanks for the memories...

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

6. The Stores Don't Even Know Yet....

I just called a couple. The first store told me that they are NOT going to be closing. He assured me of this. I didn't have the heart to tell him. I guess he thinks they're the exception. The way I read this is that EVERY Tower store is closing. No Exceptions.

The second store I talked to said they would know more tomorrow. When I told her that I read there is a liquidation beginning tomorrow, she seemed taken aback, and kind of shocked. I guess I don't have the heart to basically tell these people they better start looking for new jobs.

[Greyskye]

9. Now that bites

Of course, I haven't stepped into a Tower store in ages, but it used to be the place for me to do my book and music shopping. One of my best friends in college worked there, and was in charge of my favorite area (SF & Fantasy), so she always had the latest news. I'm trying to get in contact with her now, as she's been working at the main Tower office in IT for about a decade now.

O8) RIP Tower. O8)

[pinniped]

12. TR prices were totally crazy and not in line with other retailers in....

this area.

Their DVD sale prices were the same as other stores' regular prices.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Crazy Eddie (check), Sam Goody (check), Tower Records (check).

Where are you supposed to buy music anymore?

[AngryAmish]

32. The internets

[keopeli]

15. The end of big music stores; the beginning of small, local stores.

As a teenager, I frequented Tower and Warehouse almost daily. (What was I thinking?)

But, CDs will not die. It's just no longer profitable to have mega stores.

Many products do not have their own distribution chain of stores. The music industry took a big hit way back in the early 90s. Rather than adjust with the market, they fought the change. Remember Napster and Kazaa?

I said many years ago that they should have modified their business model instead of balking. Their stores could have become computer outlets (which are thriving today). They could have invested in research and developed the ipod many years ago. Sure, it would have been bulky, but CD walkmans were bulky and so were cell phones. Go into a store, buy a song and load it onto your TowerPod! lol

But, they don't have the chutzpa to deal with that much change. Instead, they focus on the money. The result is their demise, but I will not miss them. The new civilization will live with less to protect the environment, promote efficiency and reach a broader market. A giant store that sells a digital recording is ridiculous.

Peace

[high density]

17. Ouch... liquidation... Too bad TWE didn't get it and save at least a few

stores. Oh well, welcome to Corporate America.

[robertarctor]

18. Tis a sad day

I worked for Tower for 20 years, four years in the stores and 16 years in the corporate office, where I wrote for and edited the chain's free monthly music magazine. I left in 2000, feeling it might come to this but hoping it wouldn't.

Shop at your indie stores, if your town has them. But if you live in Sacramento and you want to do me a favor, absolutely do not shop at The Beat.

[NuttyFluffers]

25. what's with the Beat?

is it worse than wal*mart?

i try to buy at Rasputin or Amoeba @ the Bay Area, but some indie locations are all good. what did the Beat do?

[robertarctor]

36. Here's my beef with The Beat

My wife, who is bipolar, sold what was left of my record collection, after a rather traumatic house fire in 2001, to The Beat behind my back. I knew people who worked at The Beat, I had written articles for the local free weekly telling people to go buy CDs by local artists at The Beat, but no one from the store could be bothered to call me and ask me if it was OK for her to be bringing in my collection. Instead, they encouraged her. "Got more stuff?" they asked her. "Bring it in!" The way I found out was when a local DJ and collector called me at work to ask me why I would sell off my collection without letting him have a crack at it. When I got Beat owner Robert Fauble on the line, after him telling me that by California law there was nothing I could do about it, he said, "There was some pretty good stuff in there. I know, because I grabbed a bunch of it myself." And to make matters worse, according to collectors who buy and sell records often, The Beat pays consistently the worst prices for records. It's a shitty indie store.

So that's my rant. Feel free to continue to shop there. But know that you're giving your money to someone who fucked me over. By shopping there, you're no friend of mine.

[NuttyFluffers]

37. eww, that's not nice...

never seen the Beat around here, but such business practices shouldn't be encouraged. especially since it seemed you were a dedicated customer going above and beyond regular word of mouth. that's some bad mojo.

[shanti]

31. why, pray tell

shouldn't we shop at the beat? :shrug:

[fidgeting wildly]

33. I worked there too.

At the Dallas store and for a little while at the NYC Lincoln Center store. I left in July. One of my old managers called to tell me about the stores closing. A lot of the hourly employees were told that the stores would NOT be closing and then found out the opposite today. The media has more information than many of the store-level employees have been given. It's sad.

I didn't care much for either NYC store but the Dallas store was great. When I was in college, I spent more time in there than I did in my own apartment (or in class, for that matter). Many of the peeps who work in that store have been there since it opened. The pay sucked but the discount was good and the benefits package was pretty decent compared with your average retail job.

So long, Tower. :headbang:

[lutefisk]

19. I wonder how much longer Virgin can hold out?

The Virgin Megastores can't hold out forever, can they?

I have good memories of my local Tower (Maryland Pkwy.) Spent lots of time there listening to and buying music, buying cool magazines, and renting VHS tapes (Tampopo!).

What chains haven't given it up? HMV and, of course, Virgin, are the two that come to mind.

[shanti]

23. yes, virgin is probably next.

it's a whole different ballgame now.

[Chovexani]

20. That's depressing

I used to practically live at the Tower down around W. 4th St. in the Village. It was staffed with equal parts cool people and equal parts obnoxious indie fucks, but it was the only major store I could find obscure goth stuff at.

I'm gonna miss it.

[heliarc]

22. You won't miss it as much...

Since the CD is going the way of the dinosaur. Once the RIAA gets their butt in gear, they are going to come up with a purely electronic format that can be sold online. Just a matter of time. I must say that here in California, the best stores Bar none were Amoeba Records in Berkeley, and Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. No use for Tower.

[shanti]

24. there's still rasputin!

THE best, imo.

[NuttyFluffers]

26. we mare spoiled in CA

Rasputin AND Amoeba is an almost unfair combination. and then there's all the subculture/minority stores for music. scrounging the world music scene is almost far too easy around here. even some of the weird $#!+ from jap[an was relatively easily found here. you should see the bangladeshi bhangra and korean metal/goth stuff i can scrounge up.

[Threedifferentones]

28. However easy it is

its easier online, no matter where you live. Hence the demise of Tower.

[NuttyFluffers]

38. yes and no...

there's something about the browsing you can do in markets that is very hard to do online. you have to know what you are looking for online, but once you know what it is it's very easy. whereas if you are just browsing and want to stumble across stuff it's easier in a store. that and there's quite a bit of homemade pressings that make it to many stores here -- those don't always make it online, and if they do very few people outside their immediate circle will know about it. also, language and cultural barriers can be an issue when trying to search stuff online, whereas stumbling across stuff in a retail shop can be easier. they both have their good and bad. the big advantages the internet has is that it's really hard to beat immediacy and a free price.

[Chovexani]

30. Eh, I know

I haven't bought a CD in years.

I just kind of miss that bygone era.

[AX10]

27. What will be left is Wal-Mart with it's mediocre selection of only...

the latest music and nothing else.

[NNguyenMD]

29. mixed feelings, never bought music at Tower

I would buy the "gag" gifts they had for friends of mine, or some of the collectable toys from Family Guy or The Simpsons once in awhile. But I agree with the earlier poster their prices were absolutely ridiculous. They were the kind of prices that convinced my friends and I to flock to Napster or Kazaa. $18.99 for an Albulm that came out last year? Give me a break.

But I did enjoy their wide selection of movies and music. If there was an obscure albulm release that wasn't around in the major music retailers, I always was able to find it at Towers. But now I can easily do the same at online stores.

Tower record stores are nice places to browse, it is an end of an era but we'll live.