Tower Records -- the continuing collapse

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (508 of them)

I just called the Memphis store -- their last day is tomorrow. Do I drive 2.5 hrs. each way on a chance there might be something worth buying?

― I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link

I wouldn't at this point. All three Towers in SF are completely barren.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Everything is 70% off at the DC Tower. Still plenty of good stuff there.

― ng-unit (ng-unit), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 17:16 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm gonna try to get into the 4th and Broadway store on the 18th or 19th, and pillage whatever's left of the jazz section. Mostly I just wanna load up on RVG Blue Note titles and FMP stuff.

― Phil Freeman (unperson), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 17:18 (seventeen years ago) link

jazz was looking pretty sad last night.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 17:20 (seventeen years ago) link

the 4th and Broadway store

i was there over the weekend and there was still quite a bit of stock on the shelves but most of the good stuff had already been snapped up.

― j.m. goatse (get bent), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 17:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Mostly I just wanna load up on RVG Blue Note titles

I hear you. (I've already made a pretty good catch on those myself.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 17:29 (seventeen years ago) link

2.5 hours each way? You guys are fucking crazy.

I sit here debating whether or not I want to drive 10 minutes to check it out each day.

― ... (50 Bourbon St), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 18:14 (seventeen years ago) link

We are thinking about hitting the Henderson and Las Vegas stores this weekend, though I hauled an awful lot back from Tustin and Mr. Jaq has had too much fun at the lower QA store in Seattle.

Curious (George) - isn't there some amazing market in Memphis as well? If pickins are slim at Tower, there's always mojo criollo, ginger beer, etc.

― jaq (jaq), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link

my gf and i went to the tower in venice/mdl last night. for whatever reason--i can only assume apathy--the clerk charged her only 99 cents for spiritualized's 'complete works: vol 1'. she also got the import 2-disc of saint etienne's 'tales from turnpike house' for uber-cheap as well. 6 cds for 15 bucks or something like that.

― deep space nine (deep space nine), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Everything is 70% off at the DC Tower. Still plenty of good stuff there.
-- ng-unit (kurious_orang...), December 13th, 2006.

I must be getting too picky. I did not see alot of good stuff left there on Sunday.

― cornyrocker (DC Steve), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, I could make it an all-purpose grocery/xmas shopping trip with possible Tower lagniappe.

― I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 19:26 (seventeen years ago) link

i bought like 40 shitty rap CDs at tower. i figure if there's 1-2 songs worth hearing on each I can get my money's worth.

Oh, but fuck Knocturnal...i want my dollar back.

― deej (deej), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 20:25 (seventeen years ago) link

You should burn a comp -- Cream of the Tower Crap

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 20:29 (seventeen years ago) link

haha i've been thinking about it.
I can't understand how so much (often mediocre) Cali rap gets such long reach as far as distribution; southern rap CDs are hard to come by if it isn't on a major but if you want 600 copies of 2004 Celly Cel records where he's looking like a pro wrestler on the cover, they've got that shit.

― deej (deej), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 20:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I mean its cool too because I got the bay bridges comp and some sick wid it comps and the first c-bo album and suga free's 'features 2' for a buck fifty per, but i had to sort through 100 'comeback' cds from washed up Cali G's.

― deej (deej), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 20:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, consider Tower was based out in Sacramento and I think you see the logic there w/r/t what gets distributed and what doesn't.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 20:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Picked up Superlongevity 4, Cristina's Doll In A Box and Rita Lee's mysterious 2nd album at lunch for $20 (7/7/5).

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 21:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I can't understand how so much (often mediocre) Cali rap gets such long reach as far as distribution

Most of those terrible West Coast rap CDs that you'll find in abundance at the liquidation sales were distributed by Tower-owned Bayside, who made a lot of poor decisions when it came to urban music. Most of this stuff had been collecting dust in the warehouse and probably would have forever (or at least until it got dumpstered).

Regardless, if Bayside bought/distributed it, it more than likely made it into Tower stores. Since both those entities will cease to exist soon, you probably won't find artists like this with widespread mainstream availability anymore.

― Baron Von Jigglesworth (Baron Von Jigglesworth), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 23:32 (seventeen years ago) link

"southern rap CDs are hard to come by if it isn't on a major"

To be fair, Tower was pretty decent about getting Southern stuff (certainly better than most chainstores.) They had a lot of pre-Major Without A Major Deal Swishahouse stuff and various other Screwed Up Click stuff at the SF ones.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 23:35 (seventeen years ago) link

but if you want 600 copies of 2004 Celly Cel records where he's looking like a pro wrestler on the cover, they've got that shit
hahaha true therefore funny

― Lingbert (Lingbert), Thursday, 14 December 2006 03:46 (seventeen years ago) link

lol Celly Cel. also see: Mac Mall

― amon (amon), Thursday, 14 December 2006 03:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Went to Memphis -- last day, 90% off, they were hauling empty shelving out around the few customers. Some old dude in ragged clothing was buying a shopping cart full. Most of the best remaining stuff was in books, not music. Anyway, I got three big bags full of junk and near-junk for $33.

― I Am Curious (George) (Slight Return) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 15 December 2006 04:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Hit 70% at my local store tonight. Among other things I found this...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 15 December 2006 05:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Is that good? I saw Volume 1 and 2 at 60% off, but I passed cuz I hadn't heard anything about it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 15 December 2006 05:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I figure it can't suck, let's put it that way! At 4 bucks or whatever I'll give it a shot.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 15 December 2006 05:39 (seventeen years ago) link

angeleans, the pasadena tower is at 70% and still has a fair amount of decent stuff. the glendale one might as well be done, stick a fork in it. nothing left.

― deep space nine (deep space nine), Friday, 15 December 2006 08:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Is the Seattle store still open?

― A Radio Picture (Factory Sample Not For Sale), Friday, 15 December 2006 14:50 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm going to do a dead-check on Philly's Tower after work.

― arthritic hand golden fist (RSLaRue), Friday, 15 December 2006 14:56 (seventeen years ago) link

u-district seattle store has like 1 or 2 days left. lqa seattle store has like 6.

― Lingbert (Lingbert), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link

last night:

isolee - 'western store' and 'wearemonster'
luciano - 'sci fi hi fi'
erase errata - 'night life'
meat purveyors - 'someday soon things will be much worse!'
a pair of studio one comps
a certain ratio - 'i'd like to see you again'
wolf parade - 'apologies to the queen mary'

― bohren un der club of gear (bohren un der club of gear), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link

they're all supposed to close by next Friday, right? anyone know when the D.C. and/or Rockville stores are closing? I might try to make a field trip down there sometime next week after work.

― Al (Alex In Baltimore), Friday, 15 December 2006 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link

The Philly Tower location at Broad & Chestnut has apparently been leased by FYE.

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:03 (seventeen years ago) link

The Portland store is apparently closing on Tuesday, Dec 19. It's at 70% now.

― PFS (pfs), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:09 (seventeen years ago) link

NYC is dead, dead. the cut outs of the cutting outest bin of all time.

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:13 (seventeen years ago) link

So wait ramon, does that mean Tower at Broad & Chestnut is closed and the sale is over? Did I miss my chance for a few cheap Six Degrees CDs I wanted?

― arthritic hand golden fist (RSLaRue), Friday, 15 December 2006 21:15 (seventeen years ago) link

holy shit gear

― friday on the porch (lfam), Friday, 15 December 2006 22:00 (seventeen years ago) link

plus one other one i forget at the moment. total was $65!

― bohren un der club of gear (bohren un der club of gear), Friday, 15 December 2006 22:41 (seventeen years ago) link

$3 each:

Zuco 103: Whaa!
Zuco 103: Tales of High Fever
Suba [various artist]: Tributo

That's it for me.

Rock/pop now 70%. There is still stuff someone would want.

― arthritic hand golden fist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 16 December 2006 00:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I was waiting for Glendale to hit 70% and apparently they recently replenished. I got all these for $51.96

http://static.flickr.com/141/323431501_4f5e31d9d6.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 16 December 2006 00:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Having the bag in the photo is a nice touch.

― arthritic hand golden fist (RSLaRue), Saturday, 16 December 2006 00:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Rock/pop was at 70% off Wednesday night at the Alexandria, VA Tower. They had about 7 copies left of that Jess Harvell teen-punk fave Be Your Own Pet. I grabbed one of 'em. They also had a bunch of copies of Public Image Limited Greatest Hits So Far (it's not the best collection but it has some stuff I like, and I just have PIL on vinyl). They also had 4 copies left of Extra Golden-OK-Oyot System on Thrilljockey. That's a one-off group with a couple of DC Dischord rock guys who went to Kenya and recorded with Kenyan musicians. The rap section consists of nothing but unknown to me efforts for the most part. Other odds and ends--I found a Best of
Barbara Carr soul comp on Ecko, that Cardinal indie-pop re-release with extra tracks and Superpitcher-Today on Kompakt (I know very lttle about minimalist techno stuff but I figured it was worth a chance). The Latin section was pretty empty except for Mexican ranchera cds. At the DC store a week ago I bought a cd by Latin American Gustavo Cerati. I think Matt Haikunym loves him and he's won lots of acclaim elsewhere as well.

Al, I don't know when the DC store is gonna close. It used to have 2 levels and only one is open now. Oh yeah, I bought that Dengue Fever Cambodian garage pop cd that's in that picture, at the Alexandria store awhile back for 50% off, and last week I saw about 30 copies of it on sale in the DC store for $1.50 each. Rap is down to 75 cents each in DC I think.

― cornyrocker (DC Steve), Saturday, 16 December 2006 01:14 (seventeen years ago) link

DC store is closing on either 12/19 or 12/20. Rap is 50 cents.

Also: This person's Amazon Marketplace storefront seems to consist entirely of items purchased at Tower's liquidation sale

― ng-unit (ng-unit), Saturday, 16 December 2006 02:33 (seventeen years ago) link

tthe last day for seattle's u-district store is actually sunday. everything is at 70%, except rap, which is $1 per.

― Lingbert (Lingbert), Saturday, 16 December 2006 02:42 (seventeen years ago) link

The Philly Tower location at Broad & Chestnut has apparently been leased by FYE.

Yeah, a depressing number of the leases were purchased by FYE and fucking Walgreen's of all places. At least a few of the California stores' leases were picked up by Rasputin, which is definitely an upgrade.

Passing by the original locations and seeing them turned into video-focused FYE stores is going to be hard to stomach.

― Baron Von Jigglesworth (Baron Von Jigglesworth), Saturday, 16 December 2006 03:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Boston/Cambridge is closing on Monday, so says the sign.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Saturday, 16 December 2006 03:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Bay Tower (this'll be my last trip there).

Michael Mayer Touch
Lukie D Deliver Me
Various World is Gone
Saian Supa Crew Hold-Up
And Ciara's "Oh" single and Brook Valentine's "Girlfight" single cuz they were both 50 cents and there is a Kardinal remix on the former and I don't really want Brook's album but that track is aces.

$22 total.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 16 December 2006 05:23 (seventeen years ago) link

I dropped $260 (and my housemate dropped $600) at the San Francisco Tower tonight. It was very picked, but I'm happy with my finds. 70% is too hard to resist.

― Michael (Oakland Mike), Saturday, 16 December 2006 05:30 (seventeen years ago) link

$600! Did he buy shelving?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 16 December 2006 05:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Nope, just CDs. Most of it was pretty good stuff, too.

― Michael (Oakland Mike), Saturday, 16 December 2006 05:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Skipping 408 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.