This item continues to discuss aspects of music retailing which don't
seem to fit into the "Napsterization" topics about digital music, 
file sharing, etc.  Mostly we just write obituaries for CD stores...

13 responses total.

The Tower Records chain is for sale -- again.

Tower was previously offered for sale in 2004.  No buyers were found.
Before that, IIRC, came a bankruptcy reorganization.

Tower dumped about 1/3rd of its stores, including all of its
international operations.
Between the stores Tower has shed, and the overall downturn in CD
sales, Tower's sales have declined from almost $1 billion per year
before the bankruptcy filing, to a guesstimated $500 million today.

http://www.billboard.biz/bb/biz/newsroom/retail_marketing/article_display.j
sp?vnu_content_id=1002074443
http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2006/02/tower_records_u.html
http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/retail/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002074458

Tower Records has also, previously, announced the closing of their 
Annapolis store.   This may be unrelated to general Tower problems:
local Annapolis coverage indicated that the mall landlord, who owns 
a very hot retail property, wanted a big hike in lease payments.
That Tower store is located near my parents, so I know that yes, 
that mall is very very hot, with parking hard to find at any time 
of the year.  (9 movie theaters, Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, 
Bed Bath and Beyond, a Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' market, and a 
bunch of smaller upscale retailers.  Funny, I remember when Tower
used to be one of the upscale retailers...)

The Annapolis store was also the least well stocked, and messiest,
of the dozen or so Tower stores I've known.   

Tower Records deathwatch:

> At least three major music companies cut off CD shipments to Tower
> Records on Thursday after record executives said that the iconic music
> retailer had stopped paying its bills.

>> "Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp. and EMI Group
> sources confirmed privately that each of the companies had stopped
> sending albums to the Sacramento-based chain...Sony BMG Music
> Entertainment also suspended shipments, according to industry sources."

...

> "The hard line by record companies, insiders said, is a response to
> Tower's unilateral decision to withhold payments after music
> executives had extended the chain credit for years.

> "There are some music companies that have been trying very hard to
> keep Tower afloat," said an executive at one of the music companies
> familiar with the talks who requested anonymity because of the
> situation's delicacy. "They owe a lot of money."


Link:

"htte://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tower4aug04,1,1318795.story?coll=la-headl
ines-business"

Elsewhere, there are also reports that Tower's new CEO is a 
liquidation specialist.

A correspondent for the Hollywood Reporter writes about the Tower
Records situation:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/music_reporter_display.jsp?vnu
_content_id=1002984718

Numbers quote:

> "The amount of money Tower owes evidently is staggering. One
> confidential source familiar with Tower's balance sheet put the
> company's debt to one major label supplier at a whopping $20 million.
> The same source said that one sizable independent distributor was owed
> $2 million.   ///   With a little extrapolation, it is not difficult
> to surmise that Tower's current indebtedness may be as high as $100
> million."

(The extrapolation is guesstimating that each major, plus indies as a
whole, is 1/5th of the market, which is crude but a good first cut -- krj)

And, a quote illustrating why finding a buyer for Tower Records, in
anything resembling its current form, is most unlikely:

(Following a reminiscence about how the author moved to Los Angeles in
the LP era  because the Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. was a mecca...)

> "Today, Tower Sunset feels like a ghost town most nights; only the
> rare in-store performance, like the New York Dolls' album-release gig
> two weeks ago, can draw a crowd there."

Here's an analysis on the Tower Records bankruptcy filing.  The quoted
analyst expects Trans World Entertainment (whose major store brand is
FYE) to take Tower Records for no cash, just an assumption of debt.

It's not at all clear what Trans World does with Tower, though; most
of the remaining Tower stores seem too large to be part of Trans
World's business.

http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2006/08/21/daily15.html

My, I stopped keeping up with this story, didn't I.  Tower was sold
at an auction to a liquidator and all stores were cleaned out and 
closed by mid-December 2006.
 
Schoolkids Records (in Exile in the Basement) is selling stock 
older than December 2006 for 20% off.  New stock 10% off.
"We must sell our inventory!" says the ad in the Ann Arbor
News on Saturday.  I don't know how long the sale will run.
I picked up a couple of CDs I'd been thinking about for a 
while  (Janis Ian, Tilly and the Wall) and a couple of new 
releases being played in the store (a Scandinavian latin 
jazz set, the new Southern Culture On The Skids covers album).

From Arbor Update, with a clickthrough to MLive:
 
The McKinley real estate developers plan to buy and demolish
the building housing Encore Records, so they can expand their
McKinley Town Centre development.
 
Encore's used collection is the most diverse selection
of music left in any store in Ann Arbor.
 
The owner of Encore expresses hope that McKinley will pay for 
a proper relocation, as the store has four years left on its
lease.

http://arborupdate.com/article/1549/does-mckinley-hate-local-businesses#com
ment

Bowling Green, Ohio, turns out to have one very nice 
CD shoppe surviving.  Finder's, on Main Street 
in downtown, takes up three urban storefronts: one for DVDs,
one for pop/rock, and one for everything else.  Everything else
includes the best classical music section I know of -- nothing like
the old days, of course.  In fact, overall, this was the best store
I'd seen in person since my final visit to Tower Records in Chicago's
Loop.   It surpasses any new-CD retailer left in the Ann Arbor
area.

And, I didn't buy anything.  I would have bought the used copy of the
new Trio Mediaeval album, but I'd already bought one via an Amazon
seller, for twice the price.  I might have bought the Nigel Kennedy &
Kroke CD, but I couldn't remember if I have it already.  And it went
on like that.  Anything in the pleasant-to-have category, I decided to
forego in favor of some stuff that I REALLY REALLY WANT which is only
going to be available mail-order.  

So, anytime I feel like driving for 75 minutes each way, and spending
$20 or so on gas, I can have a pleasant browse in a CD store and
pretend I am living in past times.  This might actually happen, since
Leslie may have recurring business in Bowling Green.

There was a second CD store in Bowling Green focusing on underground
rock stuff, but it closed in July.  In the MySpace entry, the owner
said the problem was not business in general, but his needs to be
taking care of a critically sick infant.

Ann Arbor's Schoolkids Records now describes their "Gypsy Phase."  A few
weeks ago they had a short-lived storefront over Shaman Drum; now their
web site says they are running a store in Nickels Arcade, entrance near
Bivouac.   25% discount on much of the stock, and the web page says some
new stuff is still coming in.

Open until 9 Monday through Saturday, until 6 Sunday, through the end of
the year.

http://www.schoolkids.com

Tower had always been the hangout spot when I was growing up on a friday
night. However they completely made the music they were selling inaccessible
becuase their prices were to high. We loved the selections. You could find
imports and rare cds. But have a pricepoint that excluded your biggest
demographic group was retail suicide. When the the first best buy store opened
up in the area it was a no brainer.

Leslie and I were in the Detroit suburbs today for a variety of 
errands, dining and shopping, so I insisted that we finally stop
at Dearborn Music, on Michigan Ave at the corner of Monroe.
 
This is the last store I know of in Michigan with a broad selection
of classical and jazz CDs, both new and used.  Leslie and I loaded
up with about nine albums; we haven't really been able to go browsing 
for classical music since the Tower Records chain shut down.

Dearborn Music had an outlet in Canton which we visited about a year
ago.  The clerks today said that the Canton outlet was closed in
January 2008.

Last Store Standing?   We did drive by a large FYE store on 
Woodward in Royal Oak, which I think was occupying the old 
Harmony House space.   I've never really checked out a FYE before
but I remain skeptical that they do a decent job in classical music.

As well you should. 

FYE's selection tends to be not substantially deeper than Best Buy's, save
for their Jazz and Classical sections, which sit unloved and stocked almost
exclusively with whatever LaserLight bought the rights to.

For added fun, they sell everything at Border's ridiculously expensive prices,
without any of the expertise.

I'm glad to hear that Dearborn Music is still around. Back when I worked at
Ford, I used to spend a few lunch hours a week at a used store (whose name
escapes me) on Michigan Ave. just east of Schaefer. According to Google's
street view, it's now an office for temporary employment.

Desirable Discs, perhaps?  I was there once or twice hunting for 
collectible obscurities, at obsidian's suggestion.

YES!

They probably had the best selection I've seen in Michigan. It's a shame that
they're no longer around. 

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