On The Record

A Tower of strength for a decade-and-a-half

August 29, 2008 @ 8:28 am | by Jim Carroll

Anyone for a good news story from the music retail sector?

While the Tower Records brand may have disappeared from American streets and malls in the last few years, the Dublin store trading under that name celebrates 15 years of business in the city in September.

The Wicklow Street shop will be marking its landmark birthday with a host of local talent performing in-stores during the month.

The birthday series kicks off on September 13 with The Blizzards, Jenny Evans, Carly Sings and Lisa Hannigan.

Others appearing during the month are Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (16), Pugwash (17), Chequerboard and Rollers/Sparkers (23), The Coronas (24), Cowboy X and Ham Sandwich (25) and We Should Be Dead (26) (video for “Forget Romance, Lets Dance” follows)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL35kqtxkBg&rel=0

7 Comments »

August 29, 2008
10:12 am

Happy Birthday Tower!!
Had a ball working there many moons ago and met my future wife (who also worked there) on my first day there.made loads of life long friends and got to meet some musicians and clelebs that i had alot of respect for,(Dj Funk-lovely bloke,Paul Brady -grumpy.Heather Smalls-m-people-Rhymes with runt,Jamie Lee Curtis-WOW!).. Heres to 15 more years.with record shops all over the country closing down,shops like Tower must not be taken for granted because once they go ,they wont come back..i’m getting misty eyed now so i’ll stop.

Comment by fill3rup

August 29, 2008
10:25 am

Nice. I feckin’ love Tower Records, for reasons I haven’t quite worked out yet. It just seems that I find whatever I want in there, without getting swamped in Sting albums.

Comment by Andrew

August 29, 2008
10:33 am

Most expensive record shop in Dublin by a mile with the kind of surly gobshite staff (bar Gerry - who is surly but in a nice way) who make some of the eejits who’ve worked in Freebird down thru the years look like the staff of Are You Being Served?

Comment by Vinnie

August 29, 2008
11:20 am

Very expensive but also very cheap at the same time. They always have good bargains on which keeps me coming back, but I wouldn’t buy a new album there.

We need a place like this in Dublin city.

Comment by Peter81

August 29, 2008
12:07 pm

Long may it continue. Don’t really understand the most expensive shop comment. They regularly sell new albums for €16. Maybe I’m just going to the wrong record shops.

Have to say i find the staff great myself and have gotten to know quite a few of them. Gerry is clearly the surliest, although he’s still extremely helpful.

Anyone know any good shops in the city with a good stock of avant-garde, improv, jazz and contemporary composition? it’s the one section in tower i regularly find is lacking.

Comment by Void

August 29, 2008
2:06 pm

They’re very supprtive of independent musicians as well.

Comment by Mumblin' Deaf Ro

August 29, 2008
2:51 pm

Many of the staff (including “surly” Gerry, who is actually very charming when you know him) are former colleagues of mine from the Virgin Megastore, so I have a natural inclination to spend some time and money in there.

Having been at the horrid end of music retail for too many years, I get rather cross at the suggestion record shops like Tower are expensive - it’s just that other ones are dirt-cheap. The joy is, music you can keep forever. Clothes wear out, food gets digested, beer gets urinated or vomited all over pavements - the ridiculous costs of these items are far more deserving of our collective contempt. The mark-up on CDs is, and always has been, horribly low, which is why so many record stores are going under - for many proprietors, it’s simply not cost-effective or fun anymore. Long may Tower continue to flourish, I love it.

Comment by Johnnie