Hits Daily Double is reporting that Trans World, the Scissor Sisters-averse owners of crummy overpriced CD and DVD shops like FYE and Coconuts, has purchased the Tower Records chain. No further details are immediately available, but we’d be lying if we didn’t say that this was a sad day; Tower’s presence gave us our earliest experiences in crate-digging, thanks to its deep selection (which was way wider than the local mall shop’s) and knowledgeable employees. Thanks for the memories, Tower, and for having the Afghan Whigs’ Congregation in stock back in 1991.
UPDATE: Hits has since retracted its report (apologies for the lack of permalinks) after receiving a tip from Trans World’s president saying that no deal had been made. However, our gratitude for Tower’s crate-digging enabling is still in full effect, so feel free to listen to the Afghan Whigs MP3 while you’re hitting refresh on the Velvet Rope threads linked below; both have had a lot of insiders and ex-employees checking in.
Afghan Whigs – Turn On The Water [MP3, link expired]
Hits Daily Double: Rumor Mill
TRANS WORLD TAKES TOWER [The Velvet Rope]
Majors Stop Supplying Tower Records [The Velvet Rope]
Tower Records (in Paramus, NJ) was my early-crate-digging mecca as well. As soon as I got a license, I’d be down there. Of course, I rarely stepped into a Tower in adulthood unless I was after a classical or jazz album.
I’m picturing a confused dog look on the Transworld merchandising director when he sees that Tower actually had whole sections, nay floors dedicated to those genres.
Did Trans World pick up Tower for $1.99 from a cut-out bin?
Yeah tigerpop, it had a “NICE PRICE!” sticker on it, and Trans World couldn’t resist.
Folks sure wax poetic about their local Towers, but since they stopped individual store buying (late 2003 if I recall correctly), the possibility for “crate-digging” and local flavor were largely lost. When central buying started, local stores also became restricted as to what posters they could put up, and also lost local ownership of the “new release” section. A lot of long-time Tower location manager quit when they were forced thus to homogenize. Sad that Tower’s going, but the aspect of Tower that is really worth mourning – individual stores’ support for local and underground artists – has been gone for several years now.
I worked at a Tower for 5 years, and it was the best time of my life. I met my future wife there, smoked joints with rock stars, and left with 4000 CDs.
A friend of mine is still an assistant manager at one of the stores, and he just called me to tell me that Tower is going out of business. The liquidation company outbid Transworld by $500k. So by this Christmas, Tower will be no more. But let’s look at the upside – 80% the import section.