And finally today we have a terribly sad article about the closing of all Tower Records stores. Back in college in Boston I used to go to the Tower Records at the corner of Newbury St and Mass Ave at least once a week, sometimes more. The place always had that really cool I-want-to-work-here, Empire Records kind of feel to it, although I wasn't pierced or tattooed or snarky enough to be employed there.
However, it was actually exceptionally handy that the staff was so very unconventional when it came to renting movies with them. In film school we'd watch a movie in class and have to go home and write about it. But it's so much harder to write specific quotes for a movie than a book, especially if you didn't have a copy in-hand. I don't know how many times I'd run down there late at night (they were open until midnight every night, except Mondays when they were open until 1 am) and hit up the video rental. But nine times out of ten the movie would be rented.
"Excuse me, I see that it's rented, but has anyone returned [INSERT EXCEPTIONALLY BORING AND OVERWROUGHT FILM TITLE HERE]?"
The overly pierced and tattooed and snarky clerk half-heartedly checks.
"Naw bro."
"I know you're not supposed to do it, but can you check and tell me who's rented it?"
"Uh ..."
He pauses - either he's weighing whether to obey the company rules on customer privacy versus his own conscience - or he's just really, really high ...
"... sure".
"Thanks."
"Uh, it looks like [INSERT OTHER BOSTON UNIVERSITY FILM STUDENT'S NAME HERE] has it."
"Cool, I'll give her a call."
Sadly, Tower left Frank Gehry's gothic castle-esque building (360 Newbury Street) in the summer of 2001, and it turned into a overpriced Virgin Megastore.
A photo from 2004, when it was already a Virgin Megastore
And now I see from this article even that is leaving. Huh.
Well, at least Tower Records still lives on ... in our memories, in our hearts, in Crazy Taxi ...
The Boston Globe Music megastores besieged Tower, Virgin losing business to the Wal-Marts, Best Buys, and the multiplying iTunes By Chris Reidy October 13, 2006
Harvard University student and iPod owner Kyle Wiggins is one reason Tower Records in Cambridge and Burlington and Virgin Megastore in Boston are holding going-out-of-business sales.
"The last time I bought a CD? It's been a while," Wiggins said while looking for bargains at Tower in Harvard Square.
Tower's and Virgin's troubles demonstrate that large stores that specialize in music are in danger of becoming an oddity locally .
"The ability to download music has eaten into this business," said Jim Schaye, chief executive of Hudson Capital Partners of Newton, which, with the Great American Group, is managing the liquidation of 89 Tower stores nationwide. "The viability of this kind of retailer is becoming extremely difficult."
Downloaded music isn't the only threat to giant music stores. Other kinds of retailers have successfully poached on their turf. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, top-selling music retailers during the second quarter included Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target; during that period, NPD estimated that 7 percent of music units purchased were downloads .
It is challenging to operate a large music store in the Boston area. Local rents are pricey, and Greater Boston is wall-to-wall with tech-savvy college students likely to own iPods or other digital music devices. That combination can mean a high overhead operation with fewer customers.
Yesterday, music at Tower's Harvard Square store was selling for 15 percent off. Discounts will increase as inventory dwindles, and stores will close when the inventory is gone, Schaye said.
In April , a Globe story noted that Virgin had reached an agreement with its landlord to vacate its 46,000 square-foot store at 360 Newbury St. by June 2007 and seek another location.
In response to inquiries this week, Virgin issued statements saying the Boston store will close Nov. 4. A spokeswoman at Virgin's public relations firm said Virgin officials were unavailable for interviews. Virgin remains committed to operating its other megastores around the country, she said.
Simon Wright, chief executive of Virgin Entertainment Group, North America, said, "We have closed a few of our less profitable stores and are focusing our attention on refurbishing the stores that have the highest amount of customer traffic."
Such changes come as the Recording Industry Association of America estimated that the retail value of recorded music sales in the nation fell 6.1 percent in the first half of the year to $4.9 billion, compared with a year ago, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
Once, when consumers mostly bought music in albums, whether on vinyl, CDs, or tapes, giant music stores could flourish. But shopping habits have changed now that firms as diverse as cellphone companies and Starbucks sell music. One popular feature of digital stores is that they sell music by the songs, as well as in albums.
"If you like just one song, you don't have to buy the whole album," said Harvard student Cleo Leung of Redwood City, Calif.
Leung, who sometimes plays music on her cellphone, checked out Tower's Harvard Square store yesterday.
"It's kind of shock," she said of its closing. "If I need a CD, it's a good place to buy."
But though she regularly walks by Tower, she guessed it's been two months since her last visit.
At the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, a trade group of music retailers, president Jim Donio said it would be "simplistic" to attribute Tower's demise entirely to the Internet.
Today, he said, music competes for "wallet share" with new entertainment products such as video games and ring-tones.
Independently owned chains such as Newbury Comics have learned to survive by selling a range of products besides music, often in smaller stores, Donio said.
According to Schaye, Tower located stores in affluent areas and leased large amounts of high-rent space so it could stock deep selections of everything from pop to jazz and classical music. He estimated that 20 percent of its music titles accounted for 80 percent of sales.
Eyeing this business, the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy decided to carry only the 20 percent of titles that were hot sellers, he said, and because they also sold large volumes of many other kinds of merchandise, they could be so competitive on price they could take business from traditional music retailers with large stores and big inventories.
