Tower Records, various locations

Tower Records is another sprawling chain-store spanning the globe, only it's American so that's OK then. Tower Piccadilly is a curious multi-level store that, even after the refit, doesn't quite fit together very well. It's truly all over the place, with no sense of direction - which is kind of cool since it's rare to see disorder in a shop like this (you wouldn't see a wooly jumper out of place in the Gap).

As for the stock - well, it's mostly over priced and not all that great. They do that annoying thing of putting albums in supposed sales or "buy two get third one free" offers, where you're supposed to be grateful for taking home an Asian Dub Foundation album for £11. The most interesting 2 things about the store - the excellent free monthly magazine and the obscure American imports - both seem to have disappeared, leaving... well, not that much.

About 3 years behind other stores, they've recently decided that dance music is where the money is and have upgraded their dance and vinyl sections accordingly. They do have some decent stock and WeAreLondon still checks out their racks for the odd curo. Their new decks are nice, too.

Who shops here? Tourists (especially Americans and Japanese)
When? Mon-Sat 9am-midnight, Sun 11am-5pm
Where? 1 Piccadilly Circus (0207 439 2500 or 0207 437 1165), other branches at 62-64 Kensington High Street W8 and Whiteleys Shopping Centre, Queensway W2

Photo shows the decks and small vinyl selection at the Tower Piccadilly store,