Tower Records is Kaput, Sold to Liquidator

Ya hate to see it happen.  Tower Records was sold last week to Great American Group for $134.3 million dollars, beating out Trans World Entertainment by a puny $500,000.  What’s the difference?  Great American Group will liquidate all Tower Records stores; Trans World would have kept about 60 of the 90 stores open, saving some jobs and keeping the brand alive.  Ah well; maybe all those knowledgable employees will take up blogging, and join the music circles.

When Tower Records filed for Chapter 11 in August, it blamed declining music sales, music downloading, and competition from big-box stores like Wal-Mart.  It reflects the state of technological progress, but is also a bit sad.  Tower was known for having knowledgable employees and being kind to new bands.  Larry Kirwan, lead singer of the Irish band Black 47, said:

It’s a bad day for music. It’s a bad day for independent bands. … Right from the beginning, even before we were signed with labels they carried us. They’ve been good to musicians.

Rest in peace, Tower.

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2 responses to “Tower Records is Kaput, Sold to Liquidator”

  1. Taylor Avatar
    Taylor

    Funny, bemoaning the death of a big retailer that in itself led to the death of many small independent shops.

    Tower lost because they lost out to even bigger retailers/conglomerates, and changing expectations of retailers. They got squeezed out on prices by Amazon and Wal-Mart, and at the same time couldn’t create the shopping experience & community of the surviving small independent shops, even if they were friendly to new bands.

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  2. MikeB Avatar
    MikeB

    Ironic, isn’t it? 🙂

    But I did know a lot of people that liked Tower a lot. Still, that’s what happens when a brick ‘n’ mortar store charges $17 for the same album you can get for $9 at WalMart. Ah well.

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