response 85 of 106:

Jan 26 23:02 UTC 2003

The Sacramento Bee reports that Tower Records is winding up their UK 
operations; within four months their signature store at Picadilly Circus
will be turned over to the Virgin chain.
 
Another store of great memories gone.  When I first read a Usenet 
suggestion that one could import CDs directly from the UK in the 
late 1980s, it was Tower Records at Picadilly Circus that was 
the recommended store.   Now this seems like the most obvious thing
in the world, but around 1988 it was a new and exciting way to buy
hard-to-get CDs.  I would call Tower early in the morning and place my 
order with a young American emigre' woman who worked in their mail order
department, and I got imports from Tower until I found the UK folk music 
specialists around 1990, when coincidentally Tower's shipping charges 
got outrageous.
 
We made a pilgrimage to the Picadilly Circus store on our UK trip in 
1995, and got armloads of European folk stuff and a few nice rock 
items too.  I remember the store stereo playing The Charlatans, and 
I remember finding the now-scarce CD of Michelle Shocked's 
"Texas Campfire Tapes."