Tower Records: Gone but not forgotten
(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
It's some kind of weird contradiction, but for some reason I really loved Tower Records. I say that because I have a long standing thing about indie record shops, and I never bought much at Virgin or HMV, but when Tower opened its two Manhattan stores I became an even bigger vinyl junkie. I lived just a few blocks away from the uptown one and would spend many nights there just looking at music and talking with music buyers. The social scene was part of the trip.
Tower's two gigantic shops were initially filled with groovy records, and later in the 1980s the CDs started to eat away, aisle by aisle, at the vinyl paradises. It must have taken three or four years before CDs occupied most of the bins. Granted, vinyl's decline was mostly market driven, but remember CDs typically sold for double the price of LPs, so Tower, like most stores figured that even if the vinyl title was still available they'd rather you bought the CD. If the LP wasn't there you'd have to pony up the extra dough for the CD. During that time I'd get my vinyl from indie shops.
One rainy spring day walking through Central Park I was listening to a classical radio station when they played Aaron Copland's "Concerto for Clarinet, Strings, Harp and Piano." It so perfectly framed the misty day and green grass I had to buy the music. I exited Central Park, walked a few blocks over to Broadway and bought the CD. That was twenty years ago and I still have the CD to trigger those memories.
(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
I also have to put in a word about Tower's staff. The rock guys were never especially good, but the jazz and classical staffs were tops. They knew the music and we'd get into great conversations about whatever was happening at the time. Some guys were there for decades, and made sure not just the big sellers were in the bins, but the really obscure music as well.
The first Tower Records store was opened by Russ Solomon in 1960 on Watt Avenue in Sacramento, California. Tower was gone for good in late 2006 and now when I find one of their bright yellow plastic bags I take a little trip down memory lane.
Were you a Tower customer or employee? Share your stories here.
Steve Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to magazines and Web sites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
But alas Tower ignored the rise of mp3's at its own peril. Even in the late 90's when their profits plummeted the founder reportedly dismissed mp3's as a "fad". Ouch. I'm not sure they could have saved the stores but if they had started thinking about it before all their profits vanished by 2001 and Napster ruled the net they might have had a fighting chance.
Now few stores can command the 17.99 and 18.99 sticker prices that Tower once charged. But some record stores like the fantastic Ameoba Records in Hollywood and San Francisco carry on the ethos of Tower while selling CD's for prices that give iTunes and Best Buy a run for their money.
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Tower opened their first store here in Seattle in the mid '70s. Boy, were they ever aggressive on pricing. Until they rolled into town, the typical music shop had a relatively sparce selection. Tower changed all that. Their competition either folded under the pressure, or got bought out. Others like Peaches followed, but none had the formula down pat like Tower did. When the CD era started Tower was right there; most was European imports but it always seemed like Tower's buyers were aggressive and wanted as much product as possible to fill their racks. I remember many times being the only shopper in the CD section in those early days; then when CDs overran vinyl and cassette, Tower did try to maintain an LP section, which was perfect timing for me as I was fully committed down that slippery slope of being an audiophile. Even took care of my reading material when they dabbled in the book business.
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But then things changed. Tower went the way of Sam Goody and the other chain stores and I assumed at the time started bowing to the music industry. Gone were the everyday discounts that they had been known for; instead they charged the same bloody high prices that the mall stores charged. I slowly stopped going to Tower, preferring instead to shop at locally owned shops like Silver Platters. Hey, if I'm going to have to pay full list, at least it should benefit the local guys. Then Best Buy and Circuit City blew into town and the rules changed again. Their selection wasn't as complete, but hey, there was those old Tower-like prices again. When Amazon started carrying music that was the final nail for me; Tower's B&Ms were now petrified amongst the rest of the dinosaurs (I did continue to shop at their online store, and still do on occasion), it was time to move on. But I admit I do miss that old Pulse magazine of theirs.
Most of my many hundreds of CD's and vinyl were purchased at Tower, not only in Sacramento, but in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, and even London...to name a few. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest in '92, I moved to a small town about three hours from Seattle. My trips to the Emerald City always included visits to Tower to purchase CD's to take back to our little town.
Never, before or since, have I ever had such a close relationship with a retailer like Tower Records or Tower Books. I miss them a great deal...and you are right...I never met such experts in music than the folks that worked at Tower, especially in the Jazz and Classical sections. The Tower on Watt Ave. actually had a separate, walled off section for Classical Music so classical buyers would not have to listen to rock music blaring in the main area. That's classy.
By the way, I think (but am not 100% sure) that the first store was not on Watt Ave, but rather on the other side of town on Broadway, right next to the Tower Theater, where the company acquired its name. Thanks so much for writing about the greatness that was Tower.
http://www.tower.com/
- by ridecycling January 8, 2009 10:50 PM PST
- Yes I worked at Tower and ultimately became a vendor for them many years later. Most people did not know they carried more magazine titles than any store in the world.
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(11 Comments)Tragic to see they have left the scene. I stockpiled a lot of vinyl while I worked there. Many of the imports the stores received in fairly small quantities never reached the shelves and usually ended up in the hands of employees, purchased of course. Most of our salaries went to purchase of music, I don't know anyone who worked in the stores that was not into music in some way or another.
I guess the culture at Tower was pretty unique, but when you worked there you figured it was like that everywhere, until you left, then you figured out there was no place like Tower.
Anyway, my story is bitter sweet as when Tower went BK I was selling product to them, I was left holding the bag on a lot of product of which I was never paid for by them. At any rate it is too bad they are gone as the company had unique stores in unique areas such as the Sunset Blvd shop and I was able to visit the Lincoln Center shop on Broadway in NYC before it closed as well - massive store packed with more variety of music than you could ever find in any retail space, that was Tower, they carried so many different types of music not just the top 10- there was nothing like them. Obviously that store had a huge classics dept.
An interesting bit of trivia, as written above it is true Tower Records was started in Sacramento, yet the actual first store outside Sacramento was in San Francisco on Columbus Street at Bay, hence the corporations name, Bay and Columbus.