Tower-ing bankruptcy inferno, or, We still have Grimeys!
In the early 1980s when Cats/Turtles was the only semi-cool record in town and Nashville was yearning for Hard Rock/Tower/major league status, the news that Tower was searching for a location in Nashville was happy-making news. I actually knew the person who was the 'location scout' and she told me that the old Graces Plaza on West End was probably going to be the place.
I visited often, even when I had no money to spend, just to listen to what was playing over the store's speakers and to gaze at titles the likes of which I had never seen..there were rows and rows and rows and rows of CDs. There was a closed-in room JUST for classical music and a pretty damn good folkie section in the front.
Yeah, the clerks were hipper than you and you and you and me, and their tattooed-tude wore thin, and the disdainful looks I received for having the nerve NOT to know what obscure oddity was playing over the speakers were not soon forgotten. But, I forgave them, because they HAD the entire Sam Cooke catalogue, and they had all this great African music I had heard about...
But, the overpricing, the downloading of America, the Wal-Mart effect, Best Buy along with the IPOD pretty much doomed the Tower. They gave us an imprimatur of hipness, but we caught up pretty quickly.
It's gone now*..I did take advantage of the deep-gash discounts found in the final days, but I really don't miss the place much.
We have a better CD/record store anyway. The music is just as hip, but the clerks shed their 'tude at the door. If Grimeys doesn't have it, they are happy to order it for you. I love the location, the selection and 'the help'. Sometimes, smaller is just better.
*oddly, the Tower website doesn't mention the passing of the store.
I visited often, even when I had no money to spend, just to listen to what was playing over the store's speakers and to gaze at titles the likes of which I had never seen..there were rows and rows and rows and rows of CDs. There was a closed-in room JUST for classical music and a pretty damn good folkie section in the front.
Yeah, the clerks were hipper than you and you and you and me, and their tattooed-tude wore thin, and the disdainful looks I received for having the nerve NOT to know what obscure oddity was playing over the speakers were not soon forgotten. But, I forgave them, because they HAD the entire Sam Cooke catalogue, and they had all this great African music I had heard about...
But, the overpricing, the downloading of America, the Wal-Mart effect, Best Buy along with the IPOD pretty much doomed the Tower. They gave us an imprimatur of hipness, but we caught up pretty quickly.
It's gone now*..I did take advantage of the deep-gash discounts found in the final days, but I really don't miss the place much.
We have a better CD/record store anyway. The music is just as hip, but the clerks shed their 'tude at the door. If Grimeys doesn't have it, they are happy to order it for you. I love the location, the selection and 'the help'. Sometimes, smaller is just better.
*oddly, the Tower website doesn't mention the passing of the store.
