Ep. 52 Bill Duffy (Philly, Nanuet, Midwest Regional, VP North American Operations)

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

Bill Duffy was from a particular generation of Tower Store Managers; started in the mid 80’s to early 90’s, spent 15-20 years with the company and was still looked upon as a “newbie”.

But Bill broke that mold big time to both the joy and concern of the seasoned and hardened Tower Managers and Regionals. Bill was a General Manager for only 6 years before being promoted into a Regional Manager capacity; light speed in Tower’s culture. And two years later to be promoted to Vice President of North American Operations? What did this guy have, to move at warp speed through the Tower Records ecosystem?

Bill will tell us how he remembers it all. From his time working for a South New Jersey indie record chain to Assistant Manager under Eric Wood at Cherry Hill NJ. After a couple years running his first store in Nanuet NY, Bill came back to the Philadelphia area running the iconic store on South Street in Philadelphia.

From there Bill was based out of Texas, a move he initially resisted. His final four years with the company, as VP of North American Ops were the final four years of the company. Through it all, despite circumstances seemingly limiting the opportunity for innovation, Bill brought a sense of possible renewal to the way Tower Records ran its stores until the clock finally ran out.

Join us on the first episode of our 2nd year as we discuss the impact Tower had on the management style and continuing evolution of Bill Duffy.