Tower Records: Difference between revisions
Uncle Dick (talk | contribs) |
→Return: New information regarding management and direction Tag: references removed |
||
| Line 59: | Line 59: | ||
<!--[[Image:R5-logo-w-banner.jpg|285px|thumb|right|R5 Records a new store founded by Russ Solomon at the Sacramento Broadway Tower Records location.]]--> |
<!--[[Image:R5-logo-w-banner.jpg|285px|thumb|right|R5 Records a new store founded by Russ Solomon at the Sacramento Broadway Tower Records location.]]--> |
||
===A New Tower Records Returns=== |
|||
===Return=== |
|||
Tower Records (Tower.com) is under new management that is once again passionate about music and advocacy for artists and labels whose music needs to be heard. We are developing partnerships that will combine the Tower brand with some of the most exciting and cutting edge technology currently available. |
|||
On-line merchant Caiman Inc. recently re-launched the website from its location in the Montreal area on June 1, 2007. It also announced plans to re-launch the stores themselves—opening stores in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco within the next nine months. They even hired former buyer Kevin Hawkins to assist with the re-opening.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i34a7b870c5e610a128f22b775d00af90 Caiman rebuilds Tower, plans superstores<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
|||
Hawkins, however, along with former Tower employee George Scarlett, has since left Caiman. The Web site remains based in Montreal, Canada but the departure of these two employees leaves some doubt as to whether the relaunch of the brand will move forward.<ref>[http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/201383.html Business - Key Tower.com workers quit, raising doubts - sacbee.com<!-- Bot generated title -->{{Dead link|date=October 2009}}]</ref> |
|||
===Culture=== |
===Culture=== |
||
Revision as of 16:22, 4 May 2010
 | |
| Company type | Music retailer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Headquarters | Sacramento, California, USA |
| Products | DVDs, CDs, videos, video games, posters, books, collectibles, and accessories. |
| Website | Tower.com |
Tower Records is a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California, USA. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store.[1]
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. Seven Tower Records stores still operate in Colombia, five in Mexico, two in Ireland, one in Malaysia, and a number in Israel and Japan[2].
History
Tower was founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon in Sacramento, California. The store was named after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theater,[3] where Solomon first started selling records. 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. Tower Classics was typically separated in some way from the main record department, sometimes by a door to distinguish it as apart, as the classics department was considered outside the main realm of recordology and its clientele typically of a very different and singular nature.[4]
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 Canada, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ireland, Israel, UAE, 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.
Across the street was the Tower Video store, also closed in 2006. Tower Video stores existed in many cities and were preceded by Tower Posters stores which were popular among young and counter-culture customers.[4] Tower Posters, aside from selling many posters, were also in the business of selling unique odds and ends and paraphernalia leading to the alternative name, "Head Shop". What might now be called "bongs" were then called "vases" or "tobacco water pipes," as using any of the items illegally would have led to immediate closure by authorities. At one point, the only "Head Shop" left in Tacoma, WA was a Tower Posters store (after the only other store of its kind called, The Seventh House, which also sold waterbeds downstairs, was shut down by local authorities for selling drugs over the counter).[4] After some years, the Posters stores were bleeding money, possibly due to the types of employees and managers running them and allowing too much product to leave the stores without "proper accounting".[4] They were eventually replaced by the Tower Video stores which turned a much more appreciated profit margin, as in the beginning video tapes were going for $99 each and amazingly, many paid the price.[4]
In addition to CDs and cassette tapes, stores also sold DVDs, PSP movies, video games, accessories, toys and electronic gadgets like mp3 players, while a few Tower Records locations sold books as well, such as the stores in Brea, California, Mountain View, California, Nashville, Portland, Seattle, and Sacramento.
In New York City, Tower Records operated a suite of stores on and near lower Broadway. The main store was located at the southwest corner of East 4th St and Broadway, consisted of 4 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. This store specialized, as the name implies, 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 throughout the metropolitan area.
The company published a music magazine, Pulse!, which was distributed free in its stores.
Tower Records stores dropped vinyl record albums beween 1990 and 1991.
In 2005, the company began using "scan and listen" stations in its stores. These stations allowed customers to scan a CD and listen to audio samples from the disc, as well as allowed them to be able to search for particular songs/albums/artists/etc. While Tower has since gone out of business, the same model stations are still used at Arizona-based chain Zia Records. [6]
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 piracy.[5] Mismanagement, managerial incompetence, and crippling restrictions from the first bankruptcy deal also contributed to Tower's demise.[6]
While some may mourn the demise of Tower's dominance, others have taken a somewhat more 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."[7]
The debt was quantified to be between $100,000,000 and $80,000,000; whilst assets were quantified at just over $100,000,000 during February of 2004 [2].
Liquidation
On August 20, 2006, Tower Records filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy[8] 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.[9]
FYE, a mall-based music store chain, had acquired the two historic Tower locations in its home base of Sacramento, California but 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, Tennessee[10]. Rasputin Music, a new/used music/video store based in the Bay Area, is expanding in the Central Valley by acquiring the leases on the Tower stores in Fresno, California and Stockton, California. Tower Records' Stockton, California location at 6623 Pacific Avenue officially closed its doors on December 19, 2006 at 10PM for good. Rasputin Music replaced it on April 28, 2007. Rasputin also moved into Tower's former Mountain View, California location and has moved their Pleasant Hill, California location to Tower's former Concord, California location.
The Landmark Plaza location in Alexandria, VA was closed on December 18, 2006 and the Pike 7 Plaza (Tysons Corner) location in Vienna, Virginia was closed on December 21, 2006. The famous 24-year-old Washington, D.C. location closed a day later, as did the one in Atlanta at the famous Piedmont and Peachtree Road location.
On Friday, December 22, 2006 its last New York City outlet, located on 1961 Broadway, just a block north of the famous Lincoln Center on Manhattan's West Side, closed its doors along with the remaining outlets around the United States. The last Tower store to close was the Mountain View, California location, in mid-afternoon.
In Honolulu, Hawaii, the Ala Moana location became a Walgreens, but the second store that was across the street from Pearlridge Shopping Center in Aiea remains vacant.
The building in Sacramento was a Tower store for 40 years, closing when the legendary chain went out of business in late December, and sits across the street from the site where Solomon began selling records in 1941. In October, Solomon dubbed his new venture Resurrection Records. Andy Gianulias said Solomon may choose a different name. "No way do I have the grandiose idea I can open 100 stores," Solomon said. "That would be foolish. But one or two stores? That's doable." As of May 2007 the former Tower Records at Broadway in Sacramento is being transformed into Russ Solomon's R5 Records.
A New Tower Records Returns
Tower Records (Tower.com) is under new management that is once again passionate about music and advocacy for artists and labels whose music needs to be heard. We are developing partnerships that will combine the Tower brand with some of the most exciting and cutting edge technology currently available.
Culture
There is a long history of Tower culture in the media. Tower employees were generally of a specific breed, many being hired for their specific "look", or "attitude" and unquestionably for their knowledge of the products they sold; be it music genres, books, plants, or paraphernalia.[citation needed]
- The film Empire Records 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.[citation needed]
- Tower employees are typically shown in films as looking very "sub-culture-ish" and being rude, typically, to a comic affect.[citation needed]
- Being an extension of the record industry, Tower employees, not infrequently, had fans similar to "groupies", much like the rock bands they hosted at their in-store signings.[citation needed]
- Part of an employees' job was catching shop-lifters. Considering the sometimes boring nature of the job, this lent itself to rather passionate responses to any such activity against the store.[citation needed]
International stores
United Kingdom
Originally Tower Records was just a London-based concern, with a first store in Kensington High Street in 1984 being followed the next year by a 25,000 square foot 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.[11] 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 buy out of the Virgin Megastores. The Piccadilly store closed on Wednesday the 14th of January 2009 by the administrators.
Japan
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 January, 2009, TRJ maintains 80 directly operated store locations throughout Japan[12], including the Tower Cafe and 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).[13] 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.
Malaysia
It was launched in the mid 1980's and continues to this day [14].
Singapore
It opened in the 1990, to much acclaim, but closed in 2003 due to the parent company's demise. [15][16] Heavy post-1997 competition by HMV and Borders Group was also cited as a reason for closure.[15][16]
Colombia
Tower Records in Colombia operates seven well used stores, including four in Bogotá and one each in Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla. In addition to selling CDs and DVDs, Tower Records in Colombia sells books and magazines and operates cafes.
Ireland
The Irish operations of Tower were bought out in 2003, and consist of two stores in Dublin—the flagship on Wicklow Street, (which was opened by East 17, whose fans nearly wrecked the store when they played) and a second branch which operates as the music and dvd section of the main branch of Eason on O'Connell Street[17] . The Wicklow Street branch is noted as a live music venue as well as music and video retailer.[18]
Israel
Tower Records in Israel has 43 stores throughout the country. In 2001, the now Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Zvi Heifetz, became Chairman of Tower Records Israel.
Palestine
The few stores on the West Bank still stay open.
Mexico
Five Tower Records stores in Mexico[1] are owned and operated by Grupo Sanborns,[19] a subsidiary of the conglomerate Grupo Carso.[20] Grupo Carso is controlled by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim.[21]
References
- ^ a b As Tower Fades at Home, It Still Shines Abroad
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ "Tower Theatre Homepage". Retrieved 2006-08-26.
- ^ a b c d e [2]
- ^ Tower Records Files For Bankruptcy, Claims Internet Piracy, Discount Store Boom Ate Away Profits - CBS News
- ^ Jens F. Laurson & George A. Pieler (2006-11-15). "The Tower that Fell". Forbes. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
- ^ Synthesizer Pioneer: Dr. Robert Moog by Ben Kettlewell, March/April 2003 ArtistPro Magazine, p. 47
- ^ Dow Jones Newswires (2006-08-22). "Tower Records files for bankruptcy". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
- ^ Tower Records to be liquidated
- ^ Nashville Scene - Nashville Cream - Buh-Bye, Tower West End; Hello f.y.e
- ^ Mary Fagan, Tower Records to sell remaining British sites to Virgin, Daily Telegraph, 26 January 2003
- ^ Tower Records Store Information (in Japanese)
- ^ Tower Records Shibuya Store press release dated June, 2000 (in Japanese)
- ^ [3]
- ^ a b -://sgforums.com/forums/658/topics/205510?page=1
- ^ a b [4]
- ^ [5]
- ^ Towering pleasures in store,The Irish Times, Friday, October 30, 2009, "That yellow bastion of Dublin's Wicklow Street, Tower Records, is celebrating 16 years in Ireland with a series of instore gigs next weekend. The store has become famous for hosting free performances by musicians, many of them international acts stopping off for a short set before playing that night."
- ^ Company Profile - Market Size, Market Share and Demand Forecast
- ^ GRUPO CARSO - Quién es Grupo Sanborns
- ^ SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Mexico - Mexico's peso firms as markets eye tortilla accord
External links
