Gothamist: Fall of the Tower Empire?

matt

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:43:25 -0500

I used to be the mag buyer at 4th and Bway for 8 or so years and always carried indy stuff, zines, graffitti mags... I was the book buyer for 5 years and bought the crappy stuff as well as a lot of great titles from Loompanics and Feral House etc until they told me to stop buying the small stuff and started buying nationwide for the whole chain. I bought 7" vinyl and carried a ton of hardcore and punk until I was told to stop buying it. I bought computer games before any record store in the area until Tower told me to stop buying it ..I remember when they started selling action figures and stereos to try to compete with the Wiz or whoever they thought they could compete with, instead of just getting good music at good prices. Idiotic. That was the beginning of the end. I was clerk, dept head, buyer and supervisor at Tower for 11 years at that location until I was fired for being late one Sunday (read that - to railroad me out and hire 3 workers in my place at my wage) I can't wait to laugh heartily when Tower shuts down. I can't wait to see the doors swing closed for good. I hope a Starbucks replaces it, or TOys R Us. Or MacDonalds. Fuck them. They buried themselves.

BlockMon

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 08:30:43 -0500

Maybe it's because they accuse black shoppers of shoplifting for no reason. Good Riddance.

Barry P.

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:46:22 -0500

I'd like to thank whatever Russian invented allofmp3.com

Sherlock Bones

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:39:06 -0500

J and R? are you fucking crazy? The people who work there are all old jews, and indians who don't know shit about music.

areacode212

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:40:43 -0500

They actually have some good deals from time to time. I picked up some BBC DVDs there for a really good price a few months back. Sad---maybe I should start taking pics of the 66th/Broadway location for posterity.

pooey

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:54:19 -0500

yeah, I wish they had an Amoeba here too...but the one in LA is better and bigger than the one on haight-ashbury in sf.

Duh

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:32:26 -0500

J&R is the only place to buy music in person.

tower over me

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:27:04 -0500

all good things must come to an end i guess. In high school, I bought everything there, college too. But I probably haven't been in a Tower in a decade. It's such a shame that New York doesn't have a great music store. Don't give me 'Other Music' either, it's not bad, but this is New York, we should have something great. I think Other Music is about as good as Richmond's Plan 9 or Reckless in Chicago. A little shop on 9th avenue, future legend is a pretty good small shop, btw. But boy howdy, do I wish we had an Amoeba here. The Height-Ashbury branch is the best record store in America.

Bozo

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:16:05 -0500

The Tower at West 66th has been good for renting DVDs. I live right across the street. There's no rental alternative in the immediate area. But I bet the rentals are a money loser to bring in traffic, yet I bought nothing in there over the years, except the occasional blank MiniDV tape or CD-R spindle, because I always felt the music was overpriced. Always cheaper to get the discount price on Amazon.

yo mommy

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:46:42 -0500

Prices are ridiculous there. allofmp3.com for the win!

Geraldo Rivera

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:52:43 -0500

Tower sells Gay porn?!?! How come I'm always the last to know? =(

C.H.U.D.

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:37:12 -0500

dude, where am i going to buy my hardcore gay porn?

Larry

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:26:29 -0500

Amazon is cheaper, with no tax or shipping charges. Oh, and they have slightly better selection. Tower shoppers should be institutionalized.

carterUSM

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:18:50 -0500

Tower lost me with their BS pricing. I went to pick up a cd a few months ago and it was $17.99. Who prices cds at $17.99? That was like 80s CD pricing when the damn things first came out. Sure they have sale crap for $9.99 but I can buy all of that online for cheaper... or even at best buy ($7.99 for sale cds)-- I ended up finding the cd I wanted at Best Buy for $9.99 and it wasn't even on sale. Tower is irrelevant.

fidelio

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:04:11 -0500

Depends what you're going to the store for. If you want to hang out and drink coffee while reading magazines for free, I suppose Virgin's got Tower beat. But Virgin leaves a LOT to be desired in the way of selection, and I can never figure out where the hell anything is (the DVD section is particularly bad this way). And forget classical--Virgin obviously employs an autistic kid as buyer for that department.

Hal2814

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:46:10 -0500

That BBC deluxe DVD of Pride & Prejudice is always sold out 'cause it features Colin Firth's naked bum, of course.

tj

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:45:13 -0500

Before y'all know it, you'll be reading on Curbed about what's going in at Broadway & East 4th Street. (not to mention W66/Bway). A giant Chipotle perhaps?

Sherlock Bones

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:38:21 -0500

NOOOOOO! I for one have never ever bought a single thing from Tower because everything is at MSRP but I loved to go the magazine section and read everything for free all the time. That Magazine section is amazing. quick question. ANybody knows when VIce magazine is out and where can I get it? I used to get it at the vice store but they closed.

homey

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:32:42 -0500

now you can just steal.

bklynd

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:27:59 -0500

Yes, Tower is irrelevant. The big draw used to be that you could pick up all sorts of deep-catalogue titles that you couldn't find elsewhere. But online music is so much more reliable - why shlep out to Tower and see IF something is there, when you can just sit on your ass and order / download it?

Dirk

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:23:50 -0500

Everything is overpriced there.

Jeebus

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:16:56 -0500

Tower used to be a great place to pick up chicks. But now the only girls who go there are plump and frumpy Perhaps its time to move on.