December 12, 2006 - 5:20 PM

So Long, Tower Records, and Thanks for All the CDs

Did you know that Tower Records is going out of business? When I read that bit of news, I was briefly saddened, but figured it wouldn't have much impact on me since I buy most of my CDs at shows or online, and most of my DVDs online or at Costco. It wasn't until I drove past the Tower near my apartment and saw 10 foot tall signage advertising a closeout sale that I took an interest.

At first, they had most CDs and DVDs marked at 30% off. This was back at the beginning of November. Not a terribly huge discount, since their standard price is usually 18 dollars or more for a CD, so I didn't make a giant effort to check it out. But eventually, I started collecting a list of albums that I wanted and did price comparisons online at Amazon and Deep Discount CD, figureing that if I had the time, I'd check to see how those internet prices stood up against Tower's "everything must go" sale. That first trip to the Tower on Sunset boulevard netted me 8 CDs for around $75 bucks (I picked up a few that had a normal sell price of between 8 and 10 bucks, even at Tower, which helped me keep the average below $10/CD). Not too bad.

Towards the middle of November, they boosted the discount to 40%, with additional incentives on certain days and at certain times, like taking an extra 10% off for the rest of the evening, or "buy 4, get the 5th one free". I went on a Sunday night to the Tower near me when they were doing the extra 10% off, which made all the CDs I bought half-price. Imports and more expensive discs that I'd skipped the last time were the order of the day, and I still was able to average below $10/CD for another 7 albums.

A week later, I got my "cash back" reward for my credit card, which was over $200, and so it was once more to Tower Records for me. By this point, I had exhausted my previously compiled list, and was just roaming the aisles, occasionally remembering some odd band or singer's name, and rushing over to that section of the alphabet to see if their CD was available. You can imagine that pickings were slim as the entire population of Los Angeles had no doubt taken advantage of Tower's demise. Even the wall-mounted widescreen flatpanel TVs in the stores had Post-Its stuck to them, stating that they had been sold. But I managed to do the worst damage yet, pocketing 10 CDs, a few being the pricier 2 and 3 disc sets like the Beatles' White Album, at about $11 per.

Then, last week, I was in Glendale for a screening of the movie I'm working on, and I happened to remember that there was another Tower Records down the street. Thinking I'd just browse through for a bit afterwards, I ended up losing an hour in there, as well as another $100 plus. They had everything at 50% off MINIMUM. Good selection too- I limped away with 14 CDs.

What's crazy is that none of the albums I picked up were duds. I've loaded most of them onto my computer, and crammed as many as I could onto my iPod (I've only got about 3 MB left on it...and it's a 60 GB iPod), and I've enjoyed them all. In fact, a couple of them will be making it onto my year end Top Whatever List.

Add it all up, then throw in the Calvin and Hobbes collection and the Homicide Full Series Set which I picked up at Costco, PLUS my semi-annual car insurance payment, and my December credit card bills made me cry. Until I realized that this year, I am making double what I made each of the first 4 years that I lived here in L.A., and I actually DO have this extra money to spend. I can even put some of it away in my IRA and mutual funds. So, don't worry, I'm okay fiscally. Now, I just have to buy my mom her Christmas presents.

When's the last time YOU went on a massive spending spree?

Now Listening To : Solex- The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock
Random Thought : Piss poor selection of DVDs...didn't pick up a single one. Nice to have off-center music tastes.

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