I recently talked about the great pressures on the legendary Tower Records. This week the retail chain filed for bankruptcy protection. For those following the story, here is a message from the CEO of Tower Records.
"I'd like to personally update you on what's happening at Tower and why this is such good news for you.
As the CEO of Tower, I announced Sunday night that Tower is filing Chapter 11 reorganization. That might not sound like good news, but for the over 3,000 employees of Tower and Tower.com, as well as for our millions of loyal customers, it s actually very good news. Here's why -
We have the financing in place to continue operations as usual and have the product you have come to expect in our stores. And if we don't, we can get it for you. It also means that we are now positioned to sell our company within the next 60 days or so, in time to have even more product for the holiday season. Most importantly, as usual, Tower gift cards are still good in any of our stores or on Tower.com.
Russ Solomon, the founder of Tower Records, recognized the need to cater to you, the music and movie junkie, by opening the world s first music superstore in 1960. Today Tower is still the industry leader, thanks to you, our customer.
So come by and see what's new in our stores and we'll continue to keep you posted on our progress. Joe D Amico, CEO."

Very sad. I remember meeting Russ Solomon in 1965 when Tower was a driving new chain.

They were allways my favourite London record shop, I simply could never leave once I was in there, you could find everything. And that sadly, was probably the problem, overstocking.

Many others will follow - traditional retailing of music is DEAD !

I have mixed feelings on this. I actually thought the UK Tower stores were not that well stocked. Yes, they had lots of stock, but I often found they had lots of catalogue but never the best selling back catalogue. (That was probably down to no computerised stock records). I remember Jeff Beard at Warners telling me that they used to send a rep in to go through the racks to see what Warner back catalogue was out of stock, and tell Tower what they needed!!

With regards to Russ. I first met him when BARD was formed. He was actually the guy who got the UK retailers together, saying that everyone, including the newly opened Tower Kensington store, would benefit from having a strong retail body. Later he invited BARD to New Orleans (to a NARM convention), and regularly entertained the Brits. A very generous and lovely man. Mike, his son is another nice guy, as is his English wife, Louise (nee Dickens - who worked at Tower Kensington originally). Not seen any of them for years, but I wish the family my best wishes at this time. (The Solomons still own 15% of Tower).

Tower Records founder Russ Solomon will possibly make a bid to buy the embattled music retailer he founded in 1960 out of bankruptcy, reports the Sacramento Bee.

Solomon is one of nine potential bidders interested in purchasing the ailing company, according to the paper. Other candidates include Trans World Entertainment Corp., several private equity firms and a Chicago real estate developer.

Solomon, 80, is still a member of Tower's board of directors. His family gave up 85 percent ownership of the company to bondholders during its previous bankruptcy crisis, in 2004, but he retains a 15 percent share, according to the Bee.

Many of the private-equity firms listed as potential bidders often rescue struggling companies. Stuart Jamieson of Radius Equity Partners of Chicago, which is a potential bidder, told the Bee, "We are specialists in buying distressed companies. We like to come in, find out what's wrong ... and see if we can fix them. We believe there is a need for companies like Tower Records, (but) it can't be sitting there selling the same stuff they've been selling."

According to the Bee, other potential bidders include Dallas-based Highland Capital Management and HM Capital; Bayside Capital of Miami; Los Angeles-based Balmoral Advisors and Platinum Equity; and Chicago real estate developer Centrum Properties Inc.

Dow Jones Newswires reported earlier this week that Tower Records, which has 89 stores in 20 states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 20. According to the agency, the troubled company decided to put itself up for sale through a court-supervised auction scheduled for October 5. Tower wants to finalize the sale by mid-October to give itself enough time to prepare for the busy holiday season, which usually accounts for about one-third of its annual sales.

Tower's revenue fell to $430 million for the fiscal year ending July 31 from $476.1 million the previous year, according to Dow Jones.

Like other brick-and-mortar music and book stores, Tower has faced significant competition from online retailers as well as discount chains. Earlier this month, The Los Angeles Times reported that Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI Music had suspended CD shipments to the Sacramento-based chain after it stopped paying its bills. Sony BMG had also reportedly stopped shipments, although the paper was not able to confirm it at the time.

Tower recently appointed crisis management and bankruptcy specialist Joseph D'Amico as chief executive.