> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Tower going the way of the 8-track - URL: https://www.smdp.com/tower-going-the-way-of-the-8-track/ - Published: 2006-10-25T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T21:46:47.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Business, Downtown, #archive-import *Downloadable music burning record stores* DOWNTOWN — Business has been booming here in Tower Records over the past few weeks, with the renowned music store giant enjoying holiday-like sales levels. But Christmas is still two months away, and unfortunately for Tower Records and its 15 employees, who will soon be out of a job, the recent sales surge is a result of liquidation as the music retailer plays its swan song. Tower Records on Santa Monica Boulevard is one of 89 Tower stores across the United States currently in the midst of closing sales, which have lured in thousands of customers anxious to get a good deal on compact discs, digital videos and music wares before they’re all gone. On Oct. 6, Tower’s parent company — MTS Incorporated — closed a deal with Woodland Hills-based liquidator Great American Group to liquidate the company’s assets. This led to a nationwide going-out-of-business sale that got underway the following day. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, citing a decline in music sales due to online downloading and competition from larger retailers like Wal-Mart as the reason for its struggles. Tower Records owes creditors approximately $200 million. Russ Solomon opened the first Tower Records in 1960 in Sacramento. The company eventually opened close to 90 stores across the country — including its landmark store on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip — and 144 franchised stores in nine different countries. With 60,000 CDs and 6,000 DVDs, the Tower Records in Santa Monica represents one of the smallest stores in the company. As of Tuesday, more than 50 percent of the merchandise remained, according to Manager Jennnifer Jacobson. Liquidation is expected to take about eight weeks for all of the stores. The Santa Monica location is expected to remain open until every CD and DVD is gone. “The more the consumer buys, the quick-er my clerks can get on with their lives and find new employment,” Jacobson said.“Each day, we open the doors and it’s really hard on all of us. This has been a career for some people.” Discounts started at around 10 percent off lowest ticketed price when liquidation began. The response from customers was overwhelming, with many snapping up music as if it was half price, Jacobson said. On Tuesday, beneath 20-percent discount banners and signs screaming “sale on everything,” customers scavenged for bargains up and down the aisles of Tower. Pat Gorman, of Santa Monica, was busy shopping for classical, Celtic and Hawaiian music. Tower Records is the best place to find an album that is hard to locate, even on the Internet, she said. RECORD STORE WORKERS ON THE OUTS Employees say they are sad that they will have to leave a favorite job. Some have spent their entire careers at Tower Records and are unsure what the future holds. “I’m mad, like everybody else,” said Mike Martin, a clerk since 1999\. “It’s a pretty sad thing for such a big company to go like this.” Martin also works part-time at The Gap, located around the corner on the Third Street Promenade. Tower Records is more of a landmark than anything else, Martin said, and a popular destination for tourists. “It’ll be sad when they come for vacation and it’s not here,” he said. Nick Weissman had hoped to jump-start a producing career in the entertainment or music industry through a clerking job at Tower, where he started less than two months ago. Weissman had hoped to pass along a resume to some of Tower’s sponsors, like Universal Music and Warner Bros. For Weissman, it is the second time a company has closed down less than three months after he was hired. He was also an employee at Robinson’s May for two months when Federated Department Stores announced it was buying May Department Stores. “I got the dream job I always wanted and now I have to sell it,” Weissman said. “I have no idea what is next.” physical product and have the liner notes and artwork,” Smith said. Adrian Rashid was shopping at Tower Records on Tuesday as he listened to his iPod music player. Rashid said he likes to buy CDs for the artwork and to transfer the music to his iPod. Though legal music downloading has become more common, there are still plenty of ways to find free music online, Rashid said. There was no one reason behind Tower Records’ downfall. Billy Nichols, vice president of merchandising for Great American Group, said the industry has been affected from Internet sales, downloading and competition from bigger retailers. “Tower Records has some huge debt and we’re no different from you and me,” Nichols said. “They couldn’t generate the sales to pay off debt and that is ultimately what led to its demise.” Smith, from House of Records, has his own theory of how Tower Records finally went down. Stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Costco sell CDs at low prices in order to lure in customers to purchase cost-lier items. He said Tower could not compete on price, which is why it decided to introduce books and magazines in its stores. “They kept everything as list price, which was insanely expensive at $18.99 a CD, and said, ‘we’ll just have the selection that the big box stores can’t have,’” Smith said. “They couldn’t have the selection that Amazon had. There is no physical way to stock everything.” He said when customers realized they could buy DVDs for less than a CD at Tower Records, they stopped shopping at the store because there were other places.” “I’m saddened by Tower going out,” Smith said. “It’s out one era and in another.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 25, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)