NEW YORK (AFX) - The news that Tower Records is going the way of, well, records music retailer has been sold to a liquidator that will close all the stores.
I feel very sad about it, said Ladd Fraternale, shopping in the country section at Tower s East Village store in Manhattan this week. I think they have a great selection here and the service is good.
A federal bankruptcy judge in Wilmington, Del., last Friday approved the sale million.
While no firm date has been set for the stores to close, Going Out of chain s 3,000 employees have been told they will be laid off.
reorganization in August. In its filing, Tower said it has been hurt by an industrywide decline in music sales, downloading of online music and competition from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart.
CDs were 10 percent off this week, still not a bargain.
At 10 percent off the list price of $18.99, Beyonce s B day was selling for $17.09, compared with $9.
99 on Amazon. Great American President Andy Gumaer said the discount will increase over the six to eight weeks it takes to close the stores.
At the New York store, Larry Kirwan, lead singer of the Irish band Black 47, was scouring the rock bins and mourning Tower s imminent loss.
.. Right from the beginning, even before we were signed with labels they carried us.
They ve been good to musicians.
or even a CD.
It s something real that s not virtual, he said.
It s like music itself. I m not sure music is virtual. It s real and it s powerful, and I don t think you quite get the same thing from downloading.
Russ Solomon founded Tower in Sacramento, Calif., in 1960 and opened the company s landmark store on Hollywood s Sunset Boulevard in 1969. As part of the bankruptcy auction, the Sunset property will be sold for $12 million.
Outside the Sunset Boulevard store, a marquee with a message and REM lyrics said it all: It s the end of the world as we know it. Thanks for your loyalty. Tower.
Norman Labby, who for 20 years drove across town to go to Tower for jazz and classical albums, said he was frustrated, angry and depressed that Tower was closing.
I don t own a computer, I don t know how to work one and don t plan to buy one, he said, holding a bag full of CD s and tapes. I m disenfranchised for the umpteenth time.
sadness, said Ramsey Jones, manning the third-floor cash register at the New York store.
and your Best Buys and your Wal-Marts. But the thing that people will miss is the deep catalog that Tower has.
They can come here and find anything they want.
Jones, a 15-year Tower employee who also plays the drums and has worked with musicians including Vernon Reid of Living Colour, said he has made connections Coleman.
is knowledgeable, he said.
It s like losing a family member, working here for music because they were musicians themselves.
records, he said in a telephone interview. I d much rather records were sold at a music store.
story.
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