Vacation Note #2: Tower Records Going Out Of Business Sale, &c
I’ve been coming to Boston several times a year for work for something like 13 years now. There are several pockets of the greater Boston area that I know really, really well.
One such pocket is the area between exits 27 (Waltham) and 32b (Burlington) on I-95 (or “the 128″ when you talk to natives.)
In the 13 years I’ve been coming here it’s been pretty rare for a trip to go by that I didn’t stop in for a quick look around the Tower Records store1 near the Burlington Mall. Over the years the amount I spent on these visits dropped dramatically, as the rise of online ordering changed the nature of the visits from “buy all the stuff I just can’t get at home” to “pick up anything that looks interesting enough to eat the cost difference from buying it online”. (And, in fact, it was the Newbury Comics store on the other side of the parking lot that got more of my “I’m willing to pay the opportunity cost to have this CD now” spending, since they tended to have a selection that more closely matched my eclecticism.)
Well, whether my spending patterns mirror those of others, or whether for some other reasons entirely2, Tower has effectively gone out of business.
I had heard about this, but when I pulled into the parking lot this afternoon and saw the store plastered with “EVERYTHING MUST GO” and “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE”, I admit I was a bit shocked. Not that I care one way or the other whether Tower stays in business, but just because this was something that had been an unchanging part of my experience of the area.
Anyway, once that shock wore off, I popped in to see what kind of “going out of business sale” deals I could get.
I am pleased to report that among a whole pile of deals I got two things that really stand out as “whatta bargoon!” items: the Criterion Collection DVDs of The Ruling Class and Naked.
I’ll write some more detailed reviews of these later, but they have both been on my list of things I must own, and getting them both new for less than it would have cost me to get either of them used (if I could even find them–Criterion is sometime weird that way) certainly didn’t hurt.
Oh, and I should also note that the new edition of Martin Millar’s Good Fairies of New York is out. I am pleased to have bought it instantly, and will probably read it (and not for the first time) before sleeping tonight.
jay
mullah cimoc
Trish
November 4th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
I’m halfway through watching Naked now, actually — I had zipped it because the book of revelation rant is sampled on a techno track I like
November 4th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Tower’s prices, I found, usually left a lot to be desired. Even with the going-out-of-business discounts, I didn’t find much of anything that wouldn’t be cheaper elsewhere, or online. I came across things I want, sure, but the only thing I bought was a recent issue of F&SF, at 60% off. Maybe I should go back and check out the book section. Millar’s book looks interesting.
November 5th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Well, as I said, when you live in the world of comparing prices to “what I could pay online”, then almost every physical retailer suffers.
However, I got those Criterion DVDs for less than $20, so I’m pretty happy about that.
November 6th, 2006 at 10:40 am
Well, even by the “what would I pay at the Best Buy five minutes down the road (or the Barnes & Noble across the parking lot)” standard, Tower failed pretty regularly for me.
I find it interesting that Tower’s website isn’t going anywhere, since it’s not owned by the same company that’s going under.
November 6th, 2006 at 10:51 am
I’ll take your word for it on comparitive pricing–it’s not like I did a lot of shopping around, since I was primarily looking for things that I couldn’t find at home, not the best price on commonly available things. And even then Newbury more often had the slightly esoteric stuff I wanted, despite only having a fraction of the stock that Tower had.