Quantity with Quality
The Fall of a Mighty Tower
What we can learn from the dynasty and demise of Tower Records
This is my next story in a series of articles responding to Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s challenge to produce a short quality article with three take home points each day for thirty days.
I have chosen to use Wikipedia’s main page as inspiration, choosing one topic from the “Did You Know” section as topical encouragement.
Tower Records is a Sacramento, CA based retail music franchise that flourished in the United States and internationally for over 40 years beginning in 1960.
The demise of Tower Records in the United States culminated in 2006 after multiple bankruptcies and a liquidation purchase by a holding group. The last Tower Records store to close was in Mountain View, CA at 5:00 pm Pacific time on December 22, 2006.
Accounts at the time, such as this article from Forbes, point to poor money and personnel management as a leading cause; however, history has filled in a lot of the gaps to reveal that the Compact Disc format of retail music sales came to a screeching halt around that time to be permanently replaced by digital content.
A group that purchased the online and website rights from Tower Records republished the website and made plans to reopen brick-and-mortar stores, but the relaunch of the brand never went forward.
Internationally, many Tower Records stores remain open, however they are wholly owned by either independent companies, or former partners of the Tower Records USA group.
What We Can Learn from the Collapse of a Music Powerhouse
Tower Records certainly enjoyed its heyday. With enormous stores in prominent locales such as Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Lincoln Center in New York City and its largest opening staking out five stories in a corner building on Boston’s Newbury street.
Interestingly, Tower Records was one of the first online retailers, beginning internet product sales in 1995 (Just about the time Amazon was beginning to grow from Bellevue, WA).
Tower Records was said to have a magnetic appeal to its customers, providing a hub for local music scenes in New York, Nashville and San Francisco among many. Yet, the appeal was not enough to keep the retail giant in business.
Take home points:
- All entities have a life cycle. Business cycles the same as any organism, including people. We should be in tune to when we are becoming complacent, as it is inevitable. It is important to have side interests and other opportunities to explore and keep us fresh and innovative.
- The answers are often right in front of us. The Tower Records leadership didn’t realize the opportunities they had as online retailers early in the market. In a lot of ways Tower had a significant leg up over competitors such as Amazon, but they didn’t see it.
- Networks are important, but not as important as self. Our networks (customers and stakeholders if we are business) will give us a lot of help. But we have to communicate effectively with them, and we need to be ready to adapt along with them when they agree to help us out.
Do a quick self-analysis today. How much are you like Tower Records right now? What part of the growth-life cycle are you in?
Is it time to try out new things? Are opportunities for success right in front of you? What are you doing to see them and take advantage?
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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.