Personally, I think this is very sad news as it reflects how the music industry is increasing shifting to big box merchants and online distribution. Tower Records has been an industry icon for decades, pioneering the concept of going deep catalog on selection. At one point in time, their landmark Hollywood store tried to keep as many titles in stock as they could hold, and was supposedly the world record holder for number of titles stocked at a single location.

As a teenager before I got my driver's license, I used to ride the bus for an hour each way about once every two weeks so I could shop at Tower, despite other music stores being within easy bike-riding distance of my parents' house. I simply wanted to spend a whole afternoon perusing through Tower's much bigger selection, looking for interesting new music outside of the top 40. And a lot of the music I was interested in simply wasn't available at my neighborhood music stores. And Tower was where I discovered half-speed mastered audiophile vinyl, alternate imported versions of favorite albums, and where I still go if I'm trying to find a specific SACD title.

Sadly, many of Tower's flagship stores have been overshadowed in recent years, most notably by the Virgin Megastores, and Amoeba Music in SF and LA. But, in many outlying areas, their stores remain the only place within an easy drive that goes deep into the music catalog. Big box stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Borders, Wal-Mart, and Target have eaten into the standalone music stores by offering lower prices on the big sellers, while stocking nowhere near the same number of titles as Tower.

In outlying communities like Stockton and Fresno here in California, Tower is the only place within at least a two-hour drive that has a decent selection of less mainstream music and classical titles. Indeed, people in those areas can now order online, but there's still something to be said for the ritual of going into a music store and discovering all sorts of new music by simply flipping through the bins and listening in the demo booths. Tower also locates in the suburbs, whereas Virgin typically opts for a more high profile location.

Tower had already filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and used that filing to restructure their costs and close some of their unprofitable stores (most notably their college town flagship stores in Berkeley and Austin, which were more impacted by downloading), emerging out of Chapter 11 a few months later.

This time it looks like the bankruptcy court will decide on who winds up with Tower's assets. A worst case scenario would be someone using the brand for an online venture, and liquidating the stores. Supposely 76 out of Tower's 89 locations are profitable, so that would be a shame if the buyer decides that only the brand is worth anything and decides to close all of the stores. Bidders include Trans World Entertainment (which specializes in buying distressed music chains like Musicland, Sam Goody, FYE, and Wherehouse; they currently control about half of the music chain stores in the U.S.), a Chicago real estate developer (perhaps so they can redevelop Tower's valuable property in SF's expensive North Beach and Castro neighborhoods, and on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood?), and Tower's founder Russ Solomon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060822/media_nm/tower_dc_1