Tower Records filed for bankruptcy in 2004, reorganized, then filed again in 2006 and liquidated all its US stores that same year, crushed by debt and the shift to digital music. the twist is the international licensed stores kept operating independently since they were separate companies, and Tower Records Japan is still alive and thriving today, it's actually a huge chain there with dozens of stores.
rohan_mehta is tower records japan actually still a big deal or just a couple leftover stores?
natalie.r no it's genuinely huge there, dozens of locations, it's treated like a real cultural landmark
tower records japan is honestly iconic at this point, the shibuya location is like a landmark
kind of wild that the brand survived overseas better than in the country it started in