As the ‘Loper who is most in touch with the 15-year-old inside, I had a long conversation with that 15-year-old, and he is a little bit sad about the news that Tower Records is finally dead.
Because when I was a teenager — and for maybe a dozen years after that — the Tower Records in Fresno, California was the greatest place in the entire fracking multiverse, bar none.
Yes, I understand all too well the plethora of market forces that contributed to Tower’s final demise. Over the years, Tower’s share of my disposable income decreased — first it was Columbia House and BMB, then it was used CDs at Ragin’ Records, then it was Amoeba Records, then it was Amazon, then it was Best Buy, then it was iTunes and eMusic — even as my disposable income increased.