Tribute to Tower Records

Welcome to the Tribute to Tower Records website. This site is dedicated to telling the story of Tower Records.

Russell Solomon founded Tower Records in 1960 in Sacramento, California. He named the store after the drugstore his father owned, which was in the same building as the Tower Theatre, from which Solomon originally sold records. Seven years after the original store was opened, a Tower Records store opened up in San Francisco, in an ex grocery store on the corner of Columbus and Bay streets. The original store was then joined by another in 1976, next door to it, that sold books, plants and posters.

The Tower Records franchise would go on to expand throughout the United States and then internationally, until there were stores all over the world, in Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Israel, Ireland, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Argentina and Colombia. The Japanese Tower Records stores became indepenant of the original franchise, and so remain in business.

The Tower Records stores sold CDs and cassette tapes, and also went on to sell DVDs, video games, toys, accessories, and electronic products such as mp3 players. Some Tower Records stores also sold books too.Tower Records was one of the first retailers to get online in 1995 as Tower.com, and the online music store continues to do business today.

If you have any questions regarding Tower Records, please don’t hesitate to drop us an email or give us a call.