Tower could have changed...they chose not to.

They could easily have remained 'the neighborhood record shop'
while being able to get anything you wanted in a day or two.

After all, they had the warehouses and the distribution mechanisms
already in place.

They simply chose not to do it to compete with Amazon.com.

I haven't darkend a Tower Records doorstep in over a decade,
but from what I recall their kind policies to empolyees were
rewarded with employees who smoked two joints, came to work,
listened to records, occasionally acknowledged a customer,
and didn't bother to learn anything about music that wasn't
'their' music--- which at the time was basically goth/punk/
metal.

"Their brains were small and they died."