Tower Records founder, Russ Solomon to open R5 Records

I'm a frequent visitor at "Records." I used to go to the downtown store semi regulary but parking was difficult due to its proximity to the capitol and associated govt. buildings. The old man (can't remember his name) was cool.
He always gave me the records below his sticker price. I don't know if the sticker price was for suckers or non regulars but I could always count on a nice discount from him. He was quite a pack rat. When they moved to their current location they had to move a lot of the records to a warehouse due to space limitations. They bring in stuff a little at a time so it's worth checking in on a regular basis. Some of the albums have been damaged from poor storage in that funky basement downtown, but I've found some amazing records and sometimes for very cheap like Jack Nitzsche's St.Giles Cripplegate (wlp) and a sealed original copy of Jazz Waltz by Les McCann and the Jazz Crusaders from 1964!

 

I just hope R5 moves forward with the Atlanta location idea. We are just dying here. No stores with deep inventory at this point.

 

There's nothing better in the this world than a deep catalog music store. And Tower Records was the world's best at one time. I wish Russ all the best, but frankly, this is doomed to failure for multiple reasons. I admire a person who pursues his or her dream no matter what, though. If he died tomorrow, at least he was doing what he loved and believed in. What's a million bucks compared to that satisfaction?

 

If its done right, and they stock all the crazy imports and vinyl and all the things that Tower was legendary for (before the 90s when they started being a clone of Sam Goody), it has potential. Its a tough time to open a record store, but it could be nitche enough and enough of a novelty to get people out there (assuming they live in close proximitity). The key is not to expand too quickly if it does well and not to dedicate half the store to crap like dolls, graphic novels, shot glasses, and t-shirts. That was the beginning of the end, IMHO. That, and cutting out deep catalog, imports, and raising single CD prices to $18.99 and up! LOL!

On the other hand, if it ends up being just another FYE type store with new releases and greatest hits with the rest of the store dedicated to crap, the store will be gone in a year.

 

I seriously doubt R5 will expand beyond Sacramento. I don't even think there will be a second store anywhere. Last fall employees told me that the Christmas shopping season would be a make or break situation with the store.
Well, it's still here so maybe they did ok. Having it in the old Tower building helps a lot since people know where it's at and the location is actually pretty good. However, I still run into people who don't know it's there. Mind you, these are probably people who buy 3 cds a year if that, so not one of us for sure.

Personally, I'm glad he's giving it a go. I prefer shopping in a store to a computer. As long as I can get what I want I don't mind paying a little more in a brick and mortar. The inventory is good but not as great as the old days.
Maybe that will change. The jazz selection is very good and adding the vinyl is a big for me. At one point there were about 5 Nico lps in stock.
I don't think anyone else had those, even on cd. The employees are very passionate about music and they are given a lot of freedom to order what they want. The only thing holding them back is money (of course).

 

I'm real happy that R5 exists, but I figure this is not going to last. Russ isn't getting any younger, and I expect that when he gets too old for this, everything will be shut down shortly. For now, it's his baby, and more power to him!

 

Russ Solomon is retiring and looking for a buyer for R5 Records. Right now it looks like local chain Dimple Records will take over.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/13/2747042/bob-shallit-music-icon-russ-solomons.html

 

Some fond memories of Tower Records from this corner. Many of the hard-to-find and core recordings among my 4000 classical CD's were purchased at the Tower store in East Village in NYC ...

 

I absolutely miss Tower.

 

Yeah, I went to their old site in Mountain View on San Antonio the other day. Rasputins is there now. I walked out without buying anything - I could never do that at Tower.

 

Tower was first mentioned to me by a buddy who was then attending grad school at Stanford. At the time, Tower had no presence on the east coast. It certainly made a splash in the NYC area when it opened its first store in Greenwich Village ...

 

Agreed! Spent many hours there in Seattle and then Bellevue, WA.

 

I figured Russ would keep R5 going longer. Maybe his kids asked him to stop spending their inheritance. I really miss Tower. I pass it's former Chico location almost every day. I can see the shoe store in its spot from the window behind my desk at work. I had actually just bought something from them right before they announced their closing (the Blind Faith DVD). My favorite store though was the one on Watt Avenue, with the neon sign.

I didn't know Records on K St moved to Broadway. I also never realized R Crumb did their logo. Back around 79-81 I used to ride the bus (20) downtown often on weekends and buy records there. I remember a guy named Mike who would always knock a buck or two off the total. In the 80s the prices got really high and the place became unorganized as more albums were stuffed in. Once I got to go upstairs and there was a bunch of old music magazines everywhere, if I remember right. I was back by about a decade ago and Ed (I think that's the owner's name) was still there.

Records always stank of cigarettes - they smoked constantly in there. There used to be a store near Madison and Auburn called Aftermath Records, I think, where I saw people smoking pot for only the second or third time in my life. Also, the walls were covered with psychedelic concert posters - the first time I ever saw any of those.

 

That's too bad but R5 didn't have much in the way of inventory so i figured it wouldn't be around long. I figured this was a lark anyway.

 

It sounded like a foolish idea at the time, so it is probably best they didn't sink too much money into the place. Maybe Russ should have gone to a CVS or Walgreens and asked them if he could sell records out of one of their locations .

 

Russ Solomon and the music industry should get some satisfaction from this development ...

The Justice Department is examining Apple’s tactics in the market for digital music, and its staff members have talked to major music labels and Internet music companies, according to several people briefed on the conversations.

 

Tower once had a location way out here in Massapeuqa LI. I was always amazed we had one.

 

+1, Big Time.

We actually had a Tower Records in Stamford, Connecticut!

 

"For many products, shopping online is good only if you know what you want," he reasons. "It's generally quicker to buy things in the store -- you can see so much when you're standing in front of a rack, you see hundreds of titles at once, whereas you only see 15 or 20 when you're online."


This is the main reason why I miss a brick and mortar store with deep inventory like the Tower Rec.
I enjoy shopping music in a brick and mortar store way better than shopping on-line because there are so many surprises awaiting a music shopper and one of them is finding a hard-to-find title unexpectedly.
Even though the CD price could be a little bit more expensive, it's really worth it to spend a little more money with the excitements of finding instantly a title you want and taking it home the same day.

I hope that RS would open a big branch in San Diego, CA.

 

The thing I miss most about record stores, especially the destination stores like Tower, is that for many years they were a social event. You could go in on a Friday or Saturday night and the place would be packed, tunes would be playing, and you could easily strike up a conversation with someone over a common interest in music.

Those days are long gone. Even the B&M stores that remain are pretty empty. I am more likely to feel sad than satisfied if I find myself in one of them on a Friday or Saturday night...

 

There is still at least one place locally where this vibe continues to thrive, Hoodlum's Music in Tempe. You can still learn about music and share music with knowledgeable music fans on any given day. But, for the most part you are right.

 

I used to be one of the managers of the Watt Ave store while someone else in my home was one of the managers of the Citrus Heights location.

Both pretty good stores...Watt better (of course...).

 

Several years ago I was hoping, somehow, that Russ Solomon would be able to repeat the Tower Records story with RS Records, albeit in a fewer-store scenario. I know that some Tower stores were profitable to the end, but there were just too many of them that weren't. The local store - Brea - still stands empty with the Tower signs intact. Every time I drive by it, I hope to see a sign reading reopening soon or coming soon Amoeba Brea or something. Of course I know better, but too bad. Tower wasn't the cheapest, although you could find many things on sale at reasonable prices, but you certainly couldn't find such a bounteous stock anywhere else without driving for an hour. Yeah, I miss them too.

 

I was driving by Columbus & Bay last night in SF and I got a sad feeling seeing a "green" store now occupy a building that was a huge part of our culture for decades. A time gone by....

 

I miss Tower as well.