Dark Day For Hands On Music-Movie Buyers

Yes jaybo but the music collector that truely shops for the bargin has the beach front property in the here after.

I remember the Towers Records in Boston. The Newbury St one was particularly cool...several floors and all styles of music and related items. I would shop for discounts, or stuff that was not available elsewhere. Sometimes a Laser Disc or music related book [I think that I bought the "ALBUM COVER ALBUM" there]. And yes, plenty of vinyl in the 1990's.

Video killed the radio star, but Internet killed the record store.

Fatparrot - I'm not a Bostonian, but I can find my way to that exact corner by dead reckoning, having grown up and schooled in ME/NH/VT. I wind up at that corner every time I had the occasion to visit Boston. There's a Virgin Megastore now where the palais used to be, and according to wikipedia.com (search Newbury Street), even that franchise will apparently be leaving soon for a new location. This is a stark reminder of the end of an era, for me.

Classical fans long celebrated Tower's selection, but as a lifelong heavy metal fan, there was nothing like Tower's metal section in the late 80's - it was a true destination store for everything from international to regional recordings. I bought my first Liege Lord (CT), Fates Warning (CT) and Indestructible Noise Command (local MA boys) recordings there, as well as several international releases I couldn't hope to find elsewhere.

As a young teen from way out of town, I was naive enough to think that the checkout person could help me find a few rare titles - I left my name, out-of-state phone number, and want-list. I got a call a couple weeks later with 2-3 out of say 4-5 impossible titles IN HAND and IN STOCK, ready to send to me. This was *well* before the days of credit cards for me - they held the titles and sent them after my cash payment by usmail.

I will never forget this company. They, more than any other chain I've ever encountered, employed genuine "heads" (classical heads, jazz heads, metal heads, reggae heads) - they were in it for the same reasons we are - for the music.

Boutiques now fill much of this role, and can hit niches better and harder, but there is no taking away from the good that Tower Records did for our hobby.

It's pretty big news here in Sacramento, where Tower began in 1960. I remember riding my bicycle up to the original store to buy my first LPs..."Toys in the Attic", "Armed Forces" and "Houses of the Holy". I stopped on the way home to unwrap them and read the liner notes. I can't tell you how many albums I bought because I heard them on the Tower store system. Graham Parker, The Clash, The Beat, and so on. I'll miss them. It was a special place.

They did themselves in, if you ask me. I used to buy a ton at tower, but a shrinking selection combined with rude, unhelpful and unknowledgable asshats behind the counter drove me away years ago.