Tower Records has been bought by conglomerate Great American Group, which plans to liquidate many of the stores but hasn't revealed which outlets they plan to close and which they plan to leave open. NPR is reporting that inventory liquidation sales will begin as soon as tomorrow in some locations. Real-life endings are rarely glamorous, but this seems a particularly sad finale for Los Angeles' venerable but crusty flagship Sunset Strip Tower Records. Even in the age of CDs and MP3s, Tower doggedly hung on to its original moniker as a record store.
I know the chain has been going down the tubes for years. One step into almost any Tower outlet would've told you that. I haven't bought anything from the store in years, but the death blow still seems so strange, so sudden. I didn't even have time to say goodbye. What I'll miss most are the always slightly warped, Lucian Freud-esque renderings of album covers that adorned the facade of the Sunset Tower. Good night sweet record store, good night.
