A look of disbelief came over Noah Pippin’s face as he walked out of Tower Records-Videos-Books, and found out his classical music source was closing.
Pippin, a pre-law junior who recently started shopping at Tower Records, 115 E. Grand River Ave., about twice a week, said he’ll now have to go elsewhere for his music genre.
“This is really too bad,” he said. “I wish they wouldn’t do that because I buy a lot of good classical music here.”
Tower Records announced Thursday it would be shut down May 6 due to a two-year sales slump, which employees say is partly a result of Napster - an online file-sharing program that allows users to exchange MP3 music files for free.
“There’s actually several factors including the Internet, Napster, different purchasing trends and the economy,” general manager Sherrie Vacek said.
Louise Solomon, public relations manager for Tower Records, said its California-based headquarters has been monitoring the East Lansing location for two years and made the decision to close the store after discovering it was losing money.
“They have performed lower than any college town, in spite of expensive marketing advertising,” she said.
Solomon said the East Lansing store is currently the last Michigan location, until this fall when one will be completed in Birmingham, Mich.
The record store began offering clearance prices on its merchandise Thursday, including CDs, DVDs, electronics and movies and will continue until the store closes. Signs now plaster the windows and shelves informing patrons of sales such as 30 percent off all electronics and half off the entire inventory of used CDs.
Some customers, including anthropology graduate students Peter Cunningham and Eric Perkins took advantage of the store’s discounted goods.
“It’s sad to see another business close along Grand River,” Cunningham said Thursday. “I think that anything that goes out of business here is a great loss for MSU and the community.
“They have one of the best selections in the area.”
According to Jim van Ravensway, director of planning and community development for the city, the store had signed a lease until 2011.
He said the store’s options include subleasing the building to another business or hoping the building owner will find a new tenant.
He believes the store’s closing has more to do with industry problems than city issues.
“I believe it does have to do with MP3s and things like Napster,” van Ravensway said. “If you are going to find a place where people are going to take advantage of that it is in a college town - it’s probably going to hurt them more here than in some other location.”
Dick Rosemont, co-owner of Flat, Black and Circular 541 E. Grand River Ave., is disappointed by what the absence of such a large, international music outlet will do to downtown East Lansing.
“It creates more gaps in the market,” he said. “With the stores that are left, there’s no way everyone is going to fill in what they had. Where are people going to buy jazz and classical CDs?”
But Ryan Gonder, an instrumental music education senior, wasn’t concerned with the sudden closing of the store.
“I guess I’ll replace it with something else,” he said. “What they need is a Sam Goody or something.”
Regardless, Dan Falconer, owner of Lower Level Records, 611 E. Grand River Ave., said it shouldn’t be too hard for music enthusiasts like Goder to find somewhere else to shop.
“(This fall) with Barnes & Noble (Booksellers) moving in place of where Jacobson’s used to be, they’re going to have a big music section too,” Falconer said. “So it’s just kind of like ones moving out and one moving in.
“I don’t think Barnes & Noble will have nearly the selection Tower had, but they should at least give those kids who want to shop nearby a place to go.”
Vic Loomis, chairman of the East Lansing Downtown Development Authority, said it’s unfortunate the community is losing the store.
“We work hard to create an environment to keep businesses,” he said. “I do not feel that their closing is because of any conditions in our downtown.”
Loomis agreed the challenges the store faced came because of a sales slump in the music industry, but said it shouldn’t be difficult to find another tenant to fill the building.
“We believe that we have an environment in our downtown that is conducive to business and is attracting new business,” he said. “I think we can get another business that mirrors our plan, which is to reflect the diversities we have in the community.”
Dan Julian can be reached at juilanda@msu.edu.
Shannon Murphy can be reached at murphy78@msu.edu.
