After 46 years, Tower Records Stores close; sold for $134M to liquidator

[Human Torch]

I went to the store in Campbell today and talked with a friend who works there. This is pretty sad...the closure "almost" didn;t happen. The employees thought the chain would pull through and they'd be keeping their jobs - H.T.

Tower Records Music Stores Shut Down

By: Mariel Concepción

October 13, 2006

After 46 years running, the music store franchise Tower Records has been sold to a liquidator that will close all of its branches.

On Oct. 6, a federal bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Del., approved the sale of Tower to Los Angeles-based liquidator Great American Group for $134.3 million according to the Associated Press.

While no firm date has been set for the store's closing, "Going Out of Business" signs went up this week at Tower's 89 stores in 20 states and the chain's 3,000 employees have been told they will be laid off.

The company, which owes creditors about $200 million, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in August. In its filing, Tower 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.

http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2006/10/music_store_tower_records_shuts_down/

[GCP]

1. It's like the way the lamplighters went out of business

The world moves on and doesn't need their services any more. It's a real shame for the people involved but there's not a lot can be done about progress.

[izzie]

2. My great great grand father was a carriage maker

My father had jukeboxes. Time moves on. This can not be helped. The jobs did not go over seas. Still it feels a little sad.

[proud patriot]

3. What a bummer

Tower is where I buy my music :-(

[Horse with no Name]

4. Back in the 70's when I was a kid

I wrote Tower Records (the label) because they one of my favorite artists at the time (I don't remember which one) was on their label.
They sent me the coolest T'shirt.
Ahhh those were the days eh?

[wakeme2008]

5. Ah the good old days... Like when you could go into Penney or Sears

and they had a Record Dept......

Times and things change...

If you look at Blockbuster, they are not what they once were......

[Horse with no Name]

6. Nothing is the same

My oldest daughter was born in 1985. I spent MANY nights up rocking her.
The only channel at that time of day that I could stay awake to was MTV.
All the great videos they had.
Do they even show videos anymore?:shrug:

[wakeme2008]

9. Who knows :) VH1 and MTV were great for music videos

but they are anything but videos these days... Like the Headline News of old days that had news every half hour, now at night they had talking heads like Nancy Graces...

[datavg]

7. Yeah...

...I saw liquidation signs on the store in Costa Mesa, on the way down to Newport yesterday.

It's really sad.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Sad? Not to me. Their fault for sticking with not-viable technology...

... and supporting over-priced merchandise - which priced themselves right out of a market. 2x the paper, 3x the plastic necessary? $20 for a CD? And I'm supposed to feel sad that they're gone? I guess I'll be wiping up the tears while I download the songs *I* want for free. Thanks Tower, for helping to provide a large part of the *motivation* for mp3s, napster, and the like!

Don't let the door hit'cha where the good lord split'cha.