Posted 6:03 PM by Gene

I must mention this as a big music and CD buff: Entering the Tower Records on South Street on the first day of its going-out-of-business sale I could see in a flash why. Its selection was no better than a record club's. Then I looked at random for a price -- The Essential Leonard Cohen was selling for $25.99. Minus 10% it's $23.39 -- before tax. Just one problem: Collectors' Choice Music is having a sale until January 1 on some items in the Sony/BMG "Essential" series -- at three for $39.95. That's $13.30 each. Shipping hardly matters as it would be no different from sales tax. So you're still getting gouged.

Great American had better hope a lot of people who don't know beans show up in the early days; they can't move much at these prices. Here's what I suspect happens: a lot of the inventory goes back to the distributors before it can really come down. That leaves a sad scene for the final weeks -- one-record rock and [C]RAP acts, flea-market fodder, albums that wouldn't sell at any price. I am hoping something stays around for the last act, but I can't imagine much. Also I haven't checked EDDIE's gift to the world at Broad and Chestnut, which does have a better selection, but here again I'm not expecting much.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of the real estate. Eddie's store has a prime location; Borders could expand from diagonally across the street. (I hope it doesn't house a RENDELI.) The one on South is another matter. It was a theater before. A similar big boxy place down the street that once housed a Mickey D's (and was also a theater, housing the despicable Let My People Come) has been idle for months. I'd bet some of the Towers will be vacant for quite a while, alas. They certainly won't be filled with record stores. One will be replaced with a Container Store.

What happened to Tower was almost inevitable. Enough of it was beyond its control: downloading, the big boxes, the Web's price cutting and, let us not underestimate this, the GENIUS of today's music (that NEVER gets mentioned). Some of it, though, wasn't: its expansion mania and its reputation for exorbitant prices. Still the fellow for Trans World may have had a point when he said "the highest bid may not be the best bid."