September 12, 2006 by A.S. Van Dorston

For the second time since 2004, Tower had declared bankruptcy. This time, they’re probably being sold to one of two potential buyers, and may not be open for long.

I had a love-hate relationship with Tower. Living in the Twin Cities from 1987-92, I was spoiled by all the great stores like Garage D’or, Oar Folkjokeopus, Cheapos, Positively 4th Steet and others. I expected even better from Chicago, but it was a huge disappointment. A much bigger city, it had roughly the same number of stores, but almost none were as good as the TC’s stores. Many times the indies wouldn’t have what I was looking for, but Tower would. I grew to appreciate Tower for that, and the fact that they were open until midnight seven days a week.

Sunday nights often bum me out. After 6:00, nearly everything is closed, and the work week is looming ahead. There’s been many a late night Sunday run, walk or bike ride, when I’d end up at Tower, dependably open when no one else is. Even when I don’t have the cash for an impulse buy to boost my mood, it’s just soothing to be surrounded by a hundred thousand albums. Sometimes I’ll just check for good deals on albums I want for later, or just randomly browse and soak it all in, or skim reviews in their well-stocked magazine section.

Many blame Tower’s second bankruptcy on the decline in CD sales and downloading, but that’s all bullshit. Businesses close all the time, even when conditions don’t seem adverse. The truth is that Tower has been obviously mismanaged since at least the 80s, from what I’ve heard from former employees. It’s a miracle it made it this long. Even though it’s had an online store for about a decade, and started doing MP3 sales recently, the execution was half-assed. Not to mention the wildly inconsistent pricing. By employing a smarter online strategy and learning from successful independents like Amoeba, Tower could have lasted longer. As it is, I’m guessing one of the two interested buyers is Virgin. It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but I doubt the changes will be effective. Corporate chains have simply lost touch with what music consumers want.

But dang, I’ll miss those late hours. This excludes the downtown Chicago location, which was good for a few years after buying out Rose Records’ inventory. The Lincoln Park Tower had a vastly underrated Imports section. For the last couple years, Paul Kennedy, the Imports Coordinator, has written blurbs about great bands like The Associates, Section 25, Dome, Scriti Politti, Mark Stewart, Gang of Four and punk poet John Cooper Clarke. They get some of the UK releases about a week or so after their release. Some of the albums seem to be permantly on sale for five dollars under the normal price (then again, some are inexplicably $35). They even imported and displayed Simon Reynolds’ Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984, nearly a year before it was issued in the U.S.

I went to Tower last night, possibly for the last time, depending on how long they keep their doors open. The current sale was typical of their odd sales—in addition to the usual discount bins, all albums priced $12.99 were on sale for $9.99. For that price, I found these, all in the import aisle:

Soft Machine – Fourth and Fifth
Sparks – Indiscreet
Strawbs – Ghosts [Remastered]
Ultravox! [New remastered version]
Ultravox! – Ha! Ha! Ha!

Farewell Tower, R.I.P.

Posted in: Rants