tower Records closed last year. The company was a relic of the days when people bought music at record stores rather than the large discount department stores of today like Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

The stores were bought the Great American Group in October. The name, logo, domain, and related assets were acquired by Caiman Holdings, which runs the current tower.com online music store. Caiman is now talking about resurrecting Tower stores in major US cities by the end of the year and has hired former Tower staff.

The company has a strong brand but a difficult challenge in a market where consumers have already deserted retail music stores and increasingly see music as a low-priced commodity.