Tower Records
Type	Music retailer
Founded	1960
Headquarters	Sacramento, California, USA
Industry	Retail
Products	DVDs, CDs, videos, video games, posters, books, collectibles, and accessories. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio Video is the technology of electronically capturing, Recording, processing storing transmitting and reconstructing a sequence of Still images A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. A poster is any piece of printed Paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together For the record label see Collectables Records For the Ashanti album see Collectables by Ashanti A collectable
Website	Tower.com

Tower Records is a retail music chain based in Sacramento, California, USA. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store. Franchising refers to the methods of practicing and using another person's Philosophy of business. ^[1]

Starting on October 6, 2006, all Tower Records stores in the United States prior to liquidation held "going out of business" sales before final shutdown on the night of Friday, December 22, 2006. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1790 - The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Tower.com was purchased by a separate entity and will not be affected by the retail store closings. Two Tower Records stores still operate in Ireland, as well as seven in Colombia, five in Mexico and a number in Japan and Malaysia. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and

History

Tower was founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon in Sacramento. The store was named after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theater,^[2] where Solomon first started selling records. The first Tower Records store was opened in 1960 on Watt Avenue in Sacramento, California.

Tower Records on the Sunset Strip

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 Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile and a half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood California. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city 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. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. Singapore South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The store also established Tower Records stores in Japan, but those stores 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. Sunset Boulevard is a Street in the western part of Los Angeles County California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles West Hollywood, a city in Los Angeles County California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984. Across the street was the Tower Video store, also closed in 2006. 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 stores sold books as well, such as the stores in Brea, California and Sacramento. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a Magnetic tape sound Brea is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The population as of 2007 is 39560 All these product lines are also available at Tower. com, which got its start in 1995 as one of the first music retailers to set up shop on the Internet. In New York City, twin Tower Records stores operated on and near lower Broadway—one an annex that sold vinyl records, and the other selling modern items (CDs, DVDs, etc. The City of New York Broadway, as the name implies is a wide avenue in New York City. A gramophone ). The store in the East Village was famous in the 1980s for selling albums of European New Wave bands not yet popular in the U. The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. New Wave is a Rock music genre that existed during the late 1970s and the 1980s S. and was a noted hangout for teenagers from throughout the metropolitan area.

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. 'Copyright infringement' (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by Copyright law in a manner that violates ^[3] It also had a policy of selling most Compact Disc recordings at list price. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio

Post-Bankruptcy

In 2005 the company introduced TouchMedia scan and listen stations into its stores. These stations allow the customer to scan the bar code of an item, and listen to audio clips from the album in question. As with similar listening stations in other record stores, track samples do not exist for many albums, especially import titles, but most at least have entries with information from a central database, and the majority of more popular titles do have samples.

In spring of 2006, the company introduced the Tower Records Insider program. This program gives the customer a card they can scan during transactions, which can be used to earn coupons/rewards/benefits/etc.

On June 27, 2006, Tower Records launched its own digital download store. Events 1358 - Republic of Dubrovnik is founded 1709 - Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ^[4]

Liquidation

A liquidating Tower Records store in Portland, Oregon. Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the Confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers

On August 20, 2006, Tower Records filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy^[5] for the second time in order to facilitate a purchase of the company prior to the holiday shopping season. Events 636 - Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the Bankruptcy laws of the United States

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. Events 105 BC - Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri inflict the heaviest defeat on the Roman army of Gnaeus Mallius Maximus Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. S. Tower Records locations, the last of which closed on December 22, 2006. Events 1790 - The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The Tower Records website was sold separately. ^[6]

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". Trans World Entertainment Corporation is a chain of entertainment media retail stores in the United States. FYE did acquire the lease of the West End Avenue store in Nashville, Tennessee^[7]. 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. Rasputin Music is the largest independent chain of record stores in the extended San Francisco Bay Area, California that sells new and used CDs The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the The Central Valley is a large flat valley that dominates the central portion of the U Stockton is a City in California and the seat of San Joaquin County (the fifth largest agricultural county in the United States Tower Records' Stockton, California location at 6623 Pacific Avenue officially closed its doors on December 19, 2006 at 10PM for good. Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Rasputin Music replaced it on April 28, 2007. Events 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. 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. Pleasant Hill is a city in Contra Costa County, California, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA.

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. Events 218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal 's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Tysons Corner is an Unincorporated area in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington D Vienna is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 14453 at the 2000 census and it has grown by about 3% since Events 69 - The end of the Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. 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. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D 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. Events 1790 - The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The City of New York Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York The West Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the Hudson River and faces New Jersey.

Russ Solomon will open a record store in the old Tower building on Broadway at 16th Street in Sacramento, said Andy Gianulias, a member of the family that owns the property. The building 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.

R5 Records a new store founded by Russ Solomon at the Sacramento Broadway Tower Records location.

Return

On-line merchant Caiman, Inc. recently re-launched the website from its location in the Sacramento area on June 1, 2007. Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. They also plan 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. ^[8] Hawkins, however, along with former Tower employee George Scarlett, has since left Caiman. The Web site remains based in West Sacramento but the departure of these two employees leaves some doubt as to whether the relaunch of the brand will move forward. Rick Ohren, another former Tower employee hired by Caiman, declined to say whether Tower. com would continue operating from the Sacramento area or move elsewhere or whether brick and mortar stores will still open as planned. ^[9]

International stores

United Kingdom

Originally Tower Records was just a London-based concern, with the store at 1 Piccadilly Circus being joined by a couple of smaller outlets (Kensington High Street followed by Whiteleys of Bayswater and Kingston). Piccadilly Circus is a famous road junction and public space of London 's West End in the City of Westminster,built in 1819 to connect Regent 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). Birmingham ( ˈbɜːmɪŋəm Ber -ming-um Glasgow (ˈglæzgoʊ is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom Sam Goody is a Music and Entertainment Retailer in the United States and formerly in the United Kingdom. Weston-super-Mare is a Seaside resort town and Civil parish in North Somerset, England.

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. The London stores in Piccadilly and Kensington were sold to Virgin Group, 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. Piccadilly is a major London street running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east Kensington is a district of West London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, located west of Charing Cross. Virgin Group Ltd is a branded Venture capital conglomerate of separately run companies that each use the Virgin brand of British business tycoon

Japan

Tower Shibuya store. is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008 it had an estimated Population of 208371 and a density of 13540 persons

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. is the fifth-largest city in Japan by population It is the capital of Hokkaidō Prefecture, located in Ishikari Subprefecture, and an In 1981, Japanese subsidiary Tower Records Japan Inc. (TRJ) was established.

In October, 2002, TRJ went independent from the international chain by MBO. A management buyout ( MBO) is a form of Acquisition where a company's existing Managers acquire a large part or all of the company. The bankruptcy of Tower Records in the U. S. in 2006 did not affect TRJ as it had been completely independent. As of January, 2007, TRJ maintains 81 directly operated store locations throughout Japan, including the Tower Cafes 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 outlet in the world occupying selling space of 5,000 m² (9 floors). is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008 it had an estimated Population of 208371 and a density of 13540 persons 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.

Colombia

Tower Records in Colombia operates seven stores, including four in Bogotá and one each in Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla. Bogotá —officially named Bogotá DC (DC for " Distrito Capital " which means "Capital District" formerly called Santa Fe de Bogotá Medellín, officially the Municipio de Medellín (Spanish or Municipality of Medellín (English pronunciation mɛdəˈjiːn or, Spanish: or) is the second Barranquilla, an industrial portuary and special district is a city and municipality located in northern Colombia by the Caribbean sea. 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 section of the main branch of Eason on O'Connell Street. Eason & Son (or Eason's as it is more commonly known is a group involved in the wholesale distribution and retail of newspapers magazines books stationery and O'Connell Street (Sráid Uí Chonaill is Dublin 's main thoroughfare The Wicklow Street branch is noted as a live music venue as well as music and video retailer.

Israel

Tower Records in Israel has 43 stores throughout the country. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. In 2001, the now Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Zvi Heifetz, became Chairman of Tower Records Israel. Zvi Heifetz is currently Israel 's Ambassador to the United Kingdom based in London.

Mexico

Five Tower Records stores in Mexico^[10] are owned and operated by Grupo Sanborns,^[11] a subsidiary of the conglomerate Grupo Carso. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Grupo Sanborns is a large Retail, Pharmacy and Department store chain located in Mexico. A conglomerate is a large Company that consists of seemingly unrelated Business sections ^[12] Grupo Carso is controlled by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. Grupo Carso is a conglomerate of companies owned by the Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Carlos Slim Helú (born January 28 1940) is a Mexican Businessman born to Lebanese parents largely focused on the Telecommunications ^[13]

References

External links

• Tower.com
• Tower Records Colombia
• Tower Records Japan
• Tower Records Ireland
• Tower Records Mexico
• Images of DC area Tower Records locations