In August, it was bankruptcy; now it's liquidation. Tower Records is no more. Last year, when Michael Markman and Technorati's Peter Hirshberg made the fantastic Day of the Longtail video, from which the screencap at right is taken, the demise of the largest music chain was just a cheeky prophesy. It's stunning how quickly it came true.
Mike at TechDirt describes what led to this end:
While other record stores began to recognize that that they needed to completely revamp their business -- from becoming combination music/dance clubs and stores to starting their own record labels or becoming "destinations" rather than just stores -- Tower Records leadership insisted that the web "is certainly never going to take the place of stores."
Et Tu, Blockbuster?
It is the rare retailer that survives generations. W.T. Grant, E.J. Korvette's, J.M. Fields, Franklin Music and Peaches come to mind quickly as those who aren't there anymore.
Trends are as hard to spot as they are to predict, and retailers who fail at either do not last.
Tower will be missed, but something will come along for the next generation.
Posted by: Anthony Preziosi | October 09, 2006 at 07:22 AM
Tower's end didn't come very quickly. It came after a fairly long, slow illness. The company declared bankruptcy twice this decade. It was occasionally late on payments to its vendors. Staffs were thinned out over the last few years. It switched to centralized buying in an effort to save money. Its stock was an imitation of its former self.
Evolution wasn't part of its strategy. There were little tweaks here and there, but the chain needed big, sweeping change. People are sad that Tower's gone, but it's for the best. Labels can't continue to write off their receivables to help bring a stubborn retailer out of the red. Labels will miss the billing. It may take a few years for other sources to absorb those sales...but it will be worth the wait.
Posted by: Glenn | October 09, 2006 at 04:38 PM
I am a Sacramento native, in fact I live suprisingly close to the origional stores and the historic Tower Theater, even as I write this they have a large population of temps holding signs around town "Going out of Business 30% off" so your image is not that far off.
I went by the record store Saturday, the overwhelming number of customers were 30+. No kids were in there shopping for CD's, they dont need because they own iPods and DD thier music.
Sadly it wasnt just a failure to predict the market that caused this once great company to fail, it was the horrible mismanagement after its founder was gone as well.
Posted by: Allen Sligar | October 10, 2006 at 10:06 AM
One of the things I hated about Tower, besides the prices, was how I felt when I was in there. I was surrounded by staff who a) didn't know what they were talking about and b) acted like they did. The whole ambience of the place was like a seedy place where you could ask for a "happy ending" and get a bag of something.
They had stuff that no one else had, but it just was no fun to shop there. Now that iTunes is getting more smaller and import tracks, I just had no reason to go. Maybe I'll go back and get a bargain on a few DVDs or something, but it's no big loss.
Posted by: Andrew Leyden | October 12, 2006 at 06:48 PM
Wrote something quick here today, a general comment some may find worth reading.
Brian.
http://www.cooperationcommons.com/cooperation-commons/remember-lateral-thinking
Posted by: Brian O' Hanlon | October 17, 2006 at 10:48 AM
I went by the record store Saturday, the overwhelming number of customers were 30+. No kids were in there shopping for CD's, they dont need because they own iPods and DD thier music.
http://ggks.info/sitemap.htm
Sadly it wasnt just a failure to predict the market that caused this once great company to fail, it was the horrible mismanagement after its founder was gone as well.
Posted by: Calo Bob | October 18, 2006 at 10:31 AM
We are debating the log tail of Wine.
This should be a classic example for the theory. Huge variety, global production, constrained by narrow range retailers, especially supermarkets. While not quite as easy to produce as music, wine is still produced by small farmers, with a strong sense of 'terroir', and the miracle of the human palate means that every one is different and experiences wine in a different way. Long tail stuff if ever I saw it.
But it does not seem to work because in the end the cost of distributing a glass object filled with volatile liquid can never be overcome.
How can we help consumers access, explore and enjoy the long tail of wine? And do it economically?
Posted by: marshmallow | October 25, 2006 at 06:45 AM