Tower Records
Encyclopedia
Tower Records was a retail
music chain that was based in Sacramento, California
. It currently exists as an international franchise
and an online music store
.
From 1960 until 2006, Tower also operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records filed for bankruptcy
and liquidation
. Tower.com was purchased by a separate entity and was not affected by the retail store closings.
in Sacramento, California
. The store was named after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theater, where Solomon first started selling records. The area is known for the landmark Tower Bridge. The first Tower Records store was opened in 1960 on Watt Avenue in Sacramento. By 1976, Solomon had opened Tower Books, Posters, and Plants at 1600 Broadway, next door to Tower Records. It was also one of the first retailers to move online in 1995 as Tower.com.
Seven years after its founding, Tower Records expanded to San Francisco, opening a store in what was originally a grocery store at Bay and Columbus streets. The chain eventually expanded internationally to include stores in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ireland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina. The Tower Records stores in Japan split off from the main chain and are now independent. Arguably the most famous Tower Records outlet was the one located on the north side of Sunset Boulevard
in West Hollywood, California
.
In addition to CDs
and cassette tapes, stores also sold DVDs, video games, accessories, toys and electronic gadgets like mp3 players, while a few Tower Records locations sold books as well, such as the Sacramento, Brea
and Mountain View
stores in California, as well as stores in Nashville
, Seattle
and Portland, Oregon
.
In New York City
, Tower Records operated a suite of stores on and near lower Broadway
. The main store was located at the southeast corner of East 4th St and Broadway, consisted of four levels, and sold mainstream items. The Tower Records Annex was in the same building, but located 'in the back' at the southwest corner of East 4th St and Lafayette, and stocked items that were older and a bit more obscure. (As the CD replaced the LP, vinyl moved from the main store to the annex.) The third store was called Tower Video, and was located on the southeast corner of East 4th St and Lafayette; it specialized in video. The main store in the East Village
was famous in the 1980s for selling albums of European New Wave
bands not yet popular in the U.S. and was a noted hangout for teenagers from the wider metropolitan area. Their location near Lincoln Center was a magnet for those working in the field of Musical Theater
The company published a music magazine, Pulse!
, which was distributed free in its stores.
In 2005, the company began using "scan and listen" stations in its stores. These stations allowed customers to audition a CD, to listen to audio samples from the disc, and it allowed them to search for particular songs, albums and artists. This model of listening station is still used at the Arizona-based chain Zia Records.
In 2006, the company introduced the Tower Insider program. The program was free of charge and allowed the customer to receive a membership card which could be scanned with each purchase, allowing the customer to receive coupons and notification of special deals via e-mail.
. Mismanagement, managerial incompetence, and crippling restrictions from the first bankruptcy deal also contributed to Tower's demise.
Some observers took a pragmatic view. As Robert Moog
, inventor of the Moog synthesizer
, has stated: "I'm sorry if Tower Records' and Blockbuster's sales plummet. On the other hand, it wasn't that long ago that those megastore chains drove a lot of neighborhood record stores out of business."
The debt was estimated to be between $80 million and $100 million; assets totaled just over $100 million in February 2004.
On August 20, 2006, Tower Records filed Chapter 11
bankruptcy for the second time in order to facilitate a purchase of the company prior to the holiday shopping season.
On October 6, 2006, Great American Group won an auction of the company's assets and commenced liquidation proceedings the following day, which included going-out-of-business sales at all U.S. Tower Records locations, the last of which closed on December 22, 2006. The Tower Records website was sold separately.
The managers of FYE
, a music store chain based in shopping malls, had negotiated a deal to acquire the two historic Tower locations in its home base of Sacramento, but they later backed out, stating that the "leases aren't what we thought they were". FYE did acquire the lease of the West End Avenue store in Nashville.
Rasputin Music
, a new/used music/video store based in the San Francisco Bay Area
, is expanding in the Central Valley of California by acquiring the leases for the former Tower Records stores in Fresno
and Stockton
. The Tower Records store in Stockton, located at 6623 Pacific Avenue, closed its doors permanently on December 19, 2006. A Rasputin Music
store replaced it on April 28, 2007. Rasputin Music also moved into the former Tower Records store in Mountain View, and its store in Pleasant Hill
moved into the former Tower Records store in Concord, California
.
was permanently closed on December 18, 2006, and the (Tysons Corner, Virginia
, store was permanently closed on December 21, 2006. The noted 24-year-old store in Washington, D.C.
(Foggy Bottom) was closed down on the next day, as was the store in Atlanta, Georgia
.
On Friday, December 22, 2006, the last Tower Records store in New York City
was closed down. It had been located at 1961 Broadway, one block north of Lincoln Center on Manhattan
's West Side
. It closed permanently along with all of the other remaining Tower Records stores in the United States. The final Tower Records store (in the Pacific Time Zone
) to be closed was the one in Mountain View, which closed at mid-afternoon.
One building in Sacramento had been a Tower Records store for 40 years, and the lot across the street had been the location where Solomon began selling records in 1941.
R5 Records closed on June 4, 2010, and was sold to rival Dimple Records, which will reopen the store in mid-July 2010.
The Tower Records building in Boston
, located at the intersection of Newbury Street
and Massachusetts Avenue, was instrumental in the conversion of the former street's commercial value. The eight-story building, renovated by Frank Gehry
in the late 80s, is prominently visible from eastbound Interstate 90
. The store (which occupied the first five stories) featured gold stars of Boston artists (including Gang Starr
, New Kids on the Block
, and Yo-Yo Ma
) embedded in the front landing. Virgin Megastore
took over the store from 2002-7, and the space is now occupied by Best Buy
.
Hawkins, however, along with former Tower employee George Scarlett, has since left Caiman. The website remains based in Montreal but the departure of these two employees leaves some doubt as to whether the relaunch of the brand will move forward.
in 1984 being followed the next year by a 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) flagship outlet at 1 Piccadilly Circus
and later two more smaller outlets at Whiteleys
in Bayswater
, and Kingston
. However by the start of the 1990s the chain had grown to encompass a number of other stores, with large entertainment stores also selling movies, books, magazines and games in Birmingham
and Glasgow
, as well as a number of smaller stores that had been purchased from rival American retailer Sam Goody
when it had left the UK marketplace (for example of this express format—Weston-super-Mare
).
However with tough trading conditions in the UK market, as well as the company's trouble in the States, the firm followed Sam Goody in retreating from the UK market. The London stores in Piccadilly
and Kensington
were sold to Virgin Group
in 2003, who for a while traded under the Tower brand at the former site until the store could be fully refurbished, while the other stores were closed. The store was subsequently re-named Zavvi September 2007 after a management buyout
of the Virgin Megastores. The Piccadilly store closed on Wednesday the 14th of January 2009 by the administrators.
. These are a licensed franchise of MTS Incorporated (USA). One of the stores, located on Wicklow Street
, recently launched a café upstairs called "Sound Bites".
In 1979, Tower Records in Japan started its business as the Japan Branch of MTS Incorporated. The following year, Sapporo Store, the first in Japan opened. In 1981, Japanese subsidiary Tower Records Japan Inc. (TRJ) was established.
In October, 2002, TRJ went independent from the international chain by management buyout
. The bankruptcy of Tower Records in the U.S. in 2006 did not affect TRJ as it had been completely independent. As of August, 2010, TRJ maintains 83 directly operated store locations throughout Japan, including the Shibuya
Store in Tokyo (moved to the current location in March, 1995) which is said to be one of the biggest music retail outlets in the world, occupying selling space of 5,000 m² (9 floors). TRJ also publishes free magazines Tower, bounce, and intoxicate directly and through its subsidiary NMNL.
In addition to being the leading CD retailer in Japan, TRJ is the majority stakeholder in Napster Japan, a joint venture between TRJ and Napster LLC. On March 1, 2010, Napster Japan and TRJ announced that Napster Japan would terminate all of its services on May 31, 2010 due to the difficulty in covering the costs for maintaining the required systems to continue the services.
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
music chain that was based in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. It currently exists as an international franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
and an online music store
Online music store
An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...
.
From 1960 until 2006, Tower also operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
. Tower.com was purchased by a separate entity and was not affected by the retail store closings.
History
Tower was founded in 1960 by Russell SolomonRussell Solomon
Russell Solomon is an American entrepreneur and art collector. He is the founder of the world-wide music store empire, Tower Records. Described as "a cross between Santa Claus and Allen Ginsberg" in appearance, Solomon has a tendency to dress casually. At one time, he actually maintained a collage...
in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
. The store was named after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theater, where Solomon first started selling records. The area is known for the landmark Tower Bridge. The first Tower Records store was opened in 1960 on Watt Avenue in Sacramento. By 1976, Solomon had opened Tower Books, Posters, and Plants at 1600 Broadway, next door to Tower Records. It was also one of the first retailers to move online in 1995 as Tower.com.
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
.
In addition to CDs
CDS
-Computing and electronics:* Cadence Design Systems, American Electronic Design Automation software company* Chromatography data system, software to control chromatography instruments* Cockpit display system* Compact Discs...
and cassette tapes, stores also sold DVDs, video games, accessories, toys and electronic gadgets like mp3 players, while a few Tower Records locations sold books as well, such as the Sacramento, Brea
Brea, California
Brea is a city in Orange County, California. The population, as of the 2010 Census was 39,282.The city began as a center of crude oil production, was later propelled by citrus production, and is now an important retail center because of the large Brea Mall and the recently redeveloped Brea Downtown...
and Mountain View
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
stores in California, as well as stores in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
and Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
.
In New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Tower Records operated a suite of stores on and near lower Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
. The main store was located at the southeast corner of East 4th St and Broadway, consisted of four levels, and sold mainstream items. The Tower Records Annex was in the same building, but located 'in the back' at the southwest corner of East 4th St and Lafayette, and stocked items that were older and a bit more obscure. (As the CD replaced the LP, vinyl moved from the main store to the annex.) The third store was called Tower Video, and was located on the southeast corner of East 4th St and Lafayette; it specialized in video. The main store in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
was famous in the 1980s for selling albums of European New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
bands not yet popular in the U.S. and was a noted hangout for teenagers from the wider metropolitan area. Their location near Lincoln Center was a magnet for those working in the field of Musical Theater
The company published a music magazine, Pulse!
Pulse!
Pulse! was a tabloid magazine published by Tower Records which contained record reviews, interviews and advertising. Initially, it was given away free in their stores to promote their record sales. After nine years, in 1992, the magazine began national distribution with a cover price of $2.95,...
, which was distributed free in its stores.
In 2005, the company began using "scan and listen" stations in its stores. These stations allowed customers to audition a CD, to listen to audio samples from the disc, and it allowed them to search for particular songs, albums and artists. This model of listening station is still used at the Arizona-based chain Zia Records.
In 2006, the company introduced the Tower Insider program. The program was free of charge and allowed the customer to receive a membership card which could be scanned with each purchase, allowing the customer to receive coupons and notification of special deals via e-mail.
Bankruptcy
Tower Records entered bankruptcy for the first time in 2004. Factors cited were the heavy debt incurred during its aggressive expansion in the 1990s, growing competition from mass discounters, and internet piracyCopyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
. Mismanagement, managerial incompetence, and crippling restrictions from the first bankruptcy deal also contributed to Tower's demise.
Some observers took a pragmatic view. As Robert Moog
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...
, inventor of the Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
, has stated: "I'm sorry if Tower Records' and Blockbuster's sales plummet. On the other hand, it wasn't that long ago that those megastore chains drove a lot of neighborhood record stores out of business."
The debt was estimated to be between $80 million and $100 million; assets totaled just over $100 million in February 2004.
Liquidation
Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
bankruptcy for the second time in order to facilitate a purchase of the company prior to the holiday shopping season.
On October 6, 2006, Great American Group won an auction of the company's assets and commenced liquidation proceedings the following day, which included going-out-of-business sales at all U.S. Tower Records locations, the last of which closed on December 22, 2006. The Tower Records website was sold separately.
The managers of FYE
Fyé
Fyé is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western France.-References:*...
, a music store chain based in shopping malls, had negotiated a deal to acquire the two historic Tower locations in its home base of Sacramento, but they later backed out, stating that the "leases aren't what we thought they were". FYE did acquire the lease of the West End Avenue store in Nashville.
Rasputin Music
Rasputin Music
Rasputin Music is the largest independent chain of record stores in the extended San Francisco Bay Area, California. They have a cult-like fan base in Northern California and sell many rare albums and videos, as well as new and used CDs, LPs, DVDs, videogames, VHS Videos, Laserdiscs, CED...
, a new/used music/video store based in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, is expanding in the Central Valley of California by acquiring the leases for the former Tower Records stores in Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
and Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
. The Tower Records store in Stockton, located at 6623 Pacific Avenue, closed its doors permanently on December 19, 2006. A Rasputin Music
Rasputin Music
Rasputin Music is the largest independent chain of record stores in the extended San Francisco Bay Area, California. They have a cult-like fan base in Northern California and sell many rare albums and videos, as well as new and used CDs, LPs, DVDs, videogames, VHS Videos, Laserdiscs, CED...
store replaced it on April 28, 2007. Rasputin Music also moved into the former Tower Records store in Mountain View, and its store in Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill, California
Pleasant Hill is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 33,152 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1961...
moved into the former Tower Records store in Concord, California
Concord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...
.
Concerning other Tower Records stores
The Landmark Plaza Tower Records Store in Alexandria, VirginiaAlexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
was permanently closed on December 18, 2006, and the (Tysons Corner, Virginia
Tysons Corner, Virginia
Tysons Corner is an unincorporated census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Part of the Washington Metropolitan Area located in Northern Virginia, Tysons Corner lies between the community of McLean and the town of Vienna along the Capital Beltway . The population was...
, store was permanently closed on December 21, 2006. The noted 24-year-old store in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(Foggy Bottom) was closed down on the next day, as was the store in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
On Friday, December 22, 2006, the last Tower Records store in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
was closed down. It had been located at 1961 Broadway, one block north of Lincoln Center on Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's West Side
West Side (Manhattan)
The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the East Side. The major neighborhoods on the West Side are West Harlem, Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, Upper...
. It closed permanently along with all of the other remaining Tower Records stores in the United States. The final Tower Records store (in the Pacific Time Zone
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
) to be closed was the one in Mountain View, which closed at mid-afternoon.
One building in Sacramento had been a Tower Records store for 40 years, and the lot across the street had been the location where Solomon began selling records in 1941.
R5 Records closed on June 4, 2010, and was sold to rival Dimple Records, which will reopen the store in mid-July 2010.
The Tower Records building in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, located at the intersection of Newbury Street
Newbury Street (Boston)
Newbury Street is located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It runs roughly east-to-west, from the Boston Public Garden to Massachusetts Ave. The road crosses many major arteries along its path, with an entrance to the Mass Pike westbound at Mass Ave...
and Massachusetts Avenue, was instrumental in the conversion of the former street's commercial value. The eight-story building, renovated by Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
in the late 80s, is prominently visible from eastbound Interstate 90
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels US 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, at Edgar Martinez Drive S. near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, and its eastern terminus is in...
. The store (which occupied the first five stories) featured gold stars of Boston artists (including Gang Starr
Gang Starr
Gang Starr was an influential East Coast hip hop duo that consisted of the late MC Guru and DJ/producer DJ Premier. Their style combined elements of New York jazz and hip hop.-Background:...
, New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block are an American boy band from Boston, Massachusetts, assembled in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr. The band currently consists of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood.New Kids on the Block enjoyed success in the late 1980s and...
, and Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
) embedded in the front landing. Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastores is an international chain of record shops, founded by Sir Richard Branson on London's Oxford Street in early 1971. Virgin Megastores are best described today as entertainment retailers....
took over the store from 2002-7, and the space is now occupied by Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
.
Return
On-line merchant Caiman, Inc., reopened the website from Montreal, Quebec, on June 1, 2007. This company also announced plans to reopen the stores themselves—opening stores in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco within the next nine months. They hired former Tower buyer Kevin Hawkins to assist with the re-opening.Hawkins, however, along with former Tower employee George Scarlett, has since left Caiman. The website remains based in Montreal but the departure of these two employees leaves some doubt as to whether the relaunch of the brand will move forward.
Culture
- The film Empire RecordsEmpire RecordsEmpire Records is a 1995 coming of age film that follows a group of record store employees over the course of one exceptional day. The employees of this independent music store try to fight off a large chain, all while learning about each other...
was written by a former employee of Tower Records store #166 (ChrisTown Mall) in Phoenix, Arizona. When the film was released and for a long time afterward, a number of her former coworkers still working, cited anecdotes and other elements of the film that related to the store. This store closed in early 2005, ten years after the film's release.
United Kingdom
Originally Tower Records was just a London-based concern, with a first store in Kensington High StreetKensington High Street
Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, west London. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
in 1984 being followed the next year by a 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) flagship outlet at 1 Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
and later two more smaller outlets at Whiteleys
Whiteleys
Whiteleys is a shopping centre in London, England. It was London's first department store, located in the Bayswater area. The store's main entrance was located on Queensway.-History:...
in Bayswater
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...
, and Kingston
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
. However by the start of the 1990s the chain had grown to encompass a number of other stores, with large entertainment stores also selling movies, books, magazines and games in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, as well as a number of smaller stores that had been purchased from rival American retailer Sam Goody
Sam Goody
Sam Goody was a music and entertainment retailer in the United States and United Kingdom, and was owned and operated by Trans World Entertainment which also runs FYE, Saturday Matinee, and Suncoast Motion Picture Company. It specialized in music, video, and video game sales...
when it had left the UK marketplace (for example of this express format—Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
).
However with tough trading conditions in the UK market, as well as the company's trouble in the States, the firm followed Sam Goody in retreating from the UK market. The London stores in Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
and Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
were sold to Virgin Group
Virgin Group
Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...
in 2003, who for a while traded under the Tower brand at the former site until the store could be fully refurbished, while the other stores were closed. The store was subsequently re-named Zavvi September 2007 after a management buyout
Management buyout
A management buyout is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company.- Overview :Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company...
of the Virgin Megastores. The Piccadilly store closed on Wednesday the 14th of January 2009 by the administrators.
Republic of Ireland
There remain two Tower Records stores operational in Dublin, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. These are a licensed franchise of MTS Incorporated (USA). One of the stores, located on Wicklow Street
Wicklow Street
Wicklow Street is a well known shopping street located in the heart of Dublin city centre, running from Grafton Street in the east to Exchequer Street and South William Street in the west....
, recently launched a café upstairs called "Sound Bites".
Japan
In October, 2002, TRJ went independent from the international chain by management buyout
Management buyout
A management buyout is a form of acquisition where a company's existing managers acquire a large part or all of the company.- Overview :Management buyouts are similar in all major legal aspects to any other acquisition of a company...
. The bankruptcy of Tower Records in the U.S. in 2006 did not affect TRJ as it had been completely independent. As of August, 2010, TRJ maintains 83 directly operated store locations throughout Japan, including the Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
Store in Tokyo (moved to the current location in March, 1995) which is said to be one of the biggest music retail outlets in the world, occupying selling space of 5,000 m² (9 floors). TRJ also publishes free magazines Tower, bounce, and intoxicate directly and through its subsidiary NMNL.
In addition to being the leading CD retailer in Japan, TRJ is the majority stakeholder in Napster Japan, a joint venture between TRJ and Napster LLC. On March 1, 2010, Napster Japan and TRJ announced that Napster Japan would terminate all of its services on May 31, 2010 due to the difficulty in covering the costs for maintaining the required systems to continue the services.