Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

     When it opens you better get what you like fast if it is non-mainline
    entertainment. Tower Records will open a store with a least one
    of each LP, casette, or CD (or so it seems) and then as time goes
    by only those sections with a high turnover survive. The rest just
    wither away. 
     This is from experience of a local Tower Record store. They started
    out with a jazz section but it feel off. The classical and Rock
    and Roll is expanding. The Country and Western is just holding its
    own again the R&R incursions.

    Well, my experience has been just the opposite.  On West 4th in New
    York, they've got *everything*.  The more obscure, the more of it.
    
    The jazz section *alone* is as large as the Harvard Coop.  And you
    don't have to be assaulted with David Lee Roth while you shop!
    
    Looking forward to finding the hard to find.
    
    
    								-mr. bill

        Out here in the California (the home of Tower I believe) I've
    found that Tower in Mountain View tends to have a better stock of
    eclectic new wave, punk, metal, and industrial music than their stock
    of mainstream rock.  They have the best selection of soundtracks
    that I've ever seen.
    
    ASP

    reply .3
    
     Well I suggest you stay away from the San Mateo store then. Unless
    you like classical. One NICE thing is that they have a video section
    with the largest LaserDisc selection close to me.

    
    
    
        My understanding of the Boston store is that it is in the
    same vein as the NYC 4th street store, multiple floors, multi-million
    dollar inventory. The NYC store is in a different galaxy in comparison
    to the San Mateo and Mountain View (CA) stores which I visited last
    summer. They (the CA stores) tend to be more like our Strawberries
    chain, small sized with inventories driven by the local market.
    For those of you here in MA, compare the downtown Worcester
    Strawberries to the one in Sudbury.
    
        In any event, Tower in Boston is major improvement over what
    we have to shop with now. I have been able to find obscure music
    in all the departments at the NYC store, and am looking forward
    to the same results here.
    
    
    Tb
    

Hooray!  No more driving for hours and hours all over the state searching for 
hard-to-find CD's and albums!


				Mark

    Since this seems to be the closest topic to California CD stores
    8^)    :
    
    
    A new Wherehouse Records opened up in Colma/Daly City and has an
    unusually large CD selection.  It is located at the 280 Metro Center
    just north of Serramonte.  The selection seemed pretty good, I was
    able to finally find a John Mayall CD I've been huntng for about
    a year.  It seemed mostly slanted to rock.
    
    Bruce

        Try the "Where to buy CD's" topic in the Silicon Valley conference
    WCSM::SILICON_VALLEY.
    
        KP7 does the trick for adding it to your notebook.
    
    ASP

    
    What price do we pay for the vast selection?  Are they competitive
    with "normal" stores?  Any resonable sales?
    
    Ken
    

    
    I don't know about the new Boston Tower, but in Seattle prices
    at Tower normally are competitive with "normal" prices elsewhere.
    For example, on the classical side, Polygram disks (Philips, London,
    DG,...) are 14.99. On sale (about once a month) they get down to
    12.99.
    
      jc
    

    What hours will they be open?

    I believe the Boston store will be open 9 am to midnight, 365 days a
    year.

    Opening of the Tower Records has been delayed at least one week
    (now tentatively set for 12/12) due to construction delays.  By
    the way, you can see the store as you drive into Boston via the
    Pike--lots of neon as in the other Tower Records.  I imagine there
    will be a big ad in the Sunday papers the Saturday before the opening.

DELNI::TRUSLOW                                       17 lines   7-DEC-1987 10:44
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I hate to start a new note when I know that this topic has been
    discussed already, but there is no keyword "TOWER_RECORDS."
    Anyway, the rumor in Boston last week was, first, that the new Tower
    Records was due to open on Friday, and then that the opening had
    been delayed until Saturday. So on Saturday morning I strolled over
    to have a look. The place is still in total chaos, with hundreds
    of unopened cartons piled on top of each other all over the place
    and notices in all the windows: "Help Wanted. Apply with the Classical
    Manager." I stuck my head in the door and asked an extremely
    anxious-looking person (my guess is, the manager) when the place
    would actually open. "Next week. We HOPE. We HOPE next week," was
    his response. I asked if by "next week" he meant the 12th (as someone
    in this conference suggested last week), and again he responded,
    "We HOPE. We HOPE." Make of that what you will....
    
    Jack Truslow
    
    

    I just called information: Tower Records on Newbury St 617-247-5900.
    
    I called them, they will not be open on sat Dec 12. They expect
    as of a couple of minutes ago that they will be open 9:00 AM tue
    Dec 15.
    
    Les

    I took another little trip past the store this Saturday -- the sign
    on the door now informs us that the opening will be December 15
    or 17 (I wonder which came first -- the sign on the door or the
    message on the telephone). I'll try to go by again tomorrow night
    and will let you know what's happening.
    
    Jack Truslow
    

    Believe it or not, they are officially open as of 9AM, Monday, Dec.
    14th.

    
    So has anybody been to Tower here in Boston??  How are the prices
    here??  Any sale??  I am planning on heading out there this evening.
    
    -P.S.
    

    I went last night. My interests are primarily in classical music;
    so I went straight up to the third floor, where I bought three
    single Cds, one two-CD album, and one three-CD album. The singles
    and the 2-pack were all $14.99/disc. But the 3-disc set was $15.99
    a disc. It may just be coincidence, but the singles were volumes
    one and two of Klemperer conducting Wagner (on EMI) and were AAD.
    The 2-disc set was Joan Sutherland's second recording of "Rigoletto"
    (on London--regular London, not Jubilee), and it was also AAD. The
    3-disc set was Sutherland's second recording of "I Puritani" (also
    on regular London), but it was DDD. It is also a practically brand-new
    release on CD. The others have been around for a while. Now, just
    to keep this from being too neat -- the third single CD was an
    EXTREMELY new release (on regular London) of Sutherland singing
    a selection of songs from old movies (including "When You Wish upon
    a Star" from "Pinocchio"). It is DDD. 
    
    So -- what do you make of that?
    
    Jack Truslow
    

I just got back from there (stopped by after Symphony).

I picked up the historic 1936 D'Oyly Carte recording of the Mikado (a two disc
set for 19.98) and a new DDD recording of Ruddigore by New Sadler's Wells also
for 19.98.

There's nothing to indicate that everything is on sale; the prices were posted
as 23.98 and 21.98.  But apparently there's a store-wide sale with everything
at 12.99 or lower.

/john

    I was there this afternoon. The prices are about standard --- $14.99
    is the common price per disc (for pop/rock/etc. --- I never made
    it to the third floor :-)). As John said, there was an unannounced
    sale of $2-3 off of each disc. I asked the cashier, and he said
    it will be on for about the next month. As a result of the $2-3
    off, I got one of CBS's "Nice Price" CD's for $7.99!!!
    
    I looked specifically for a bunch of imports. Didn't since an
    overabundance of them, but they do have quite a few interesting
    ones. Be warned, though, that Japanese imports are sky high (they
    had a bunch of Ryuichi Sakamoto CD's, for instance that were about
    $24-28 each), but this is not really Tower's fault, as right now,
    the yen is brutally beating the dollar upside the head.
    
    I definitely will make one more pass there before the holidays.
    
    --- jerry

    
    According to an ad in today's Globe, the "standard" Tower list for
    CDs is $15.98, $16.98 just like the big S.
    
    They are having a sale though, budget RCA CDs are 3 for $25 this
    week.
                                                 
    Also, it appears CBS has added another price point, $13.98 list,
    cheaper than new releases, but more than the "Collector's Series".
    The ad showed Costello's first, Beck's "Blow by Blow" among others.
    
    No times were printed.  Anybody know if they will have Sunday hours???
    
    

    They open at 12 on Sundays - I think they stay open until midnight but
    I'm not sure.

Apparently they'll be the only Tower closed on Christmas Day.

/john

    
    Well, I'll just have to walk north to the one on E 4th then.
    
    								-mr. bill

    I went down to Tower last night after hearing for a few years how
    great the NYC store is.  I thought it interesting that there are
    no "Misc. A, B, ..." sections.  Each artist stocked has their own
    section.
    
    I was not particularly impressed with the rock section, CD or LP.
    Yes, they had a "Rupert Hine" section (one of my faves) in LP. 
    Score 1 for them.  Went to the CD section:  no Chameleons U. K.,
    only one Chris De Burgh.  I find that the selection at Newbury Comics
    in Harvard Square is excellent for new rock.  Tower's selection
    may not have been much skimpier, but it certainly wasn't any better.
    
    I wonder if all the stock is out.  There are definitely current
    rock CD's that Tower did *not* have.  But the prices are good, and
    with the current grand opening sale, even better:  $12.98!
    
    When I have more time to spend, I would love to check out the whole
    place.  I live in Watertown now, but used to live *three blocks*
    from Tower!  Right place, wrong time...
    
    Paul