Ep. 41 Phil Myers (Sac, NYC, Chicago & Regional Director)
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When Phil Myers started working at the TRIP warehouse during the 1986 holidays, he was taken by the sight of Earl Martis driving a forklift around the facility. Earl had a Miller Light in one hand and a Tiparillo in his mouth. Making sure to work hard, unlike some of his colleagues, Phil had every expectation to stay on when the holidays were over. Nonetheless, he was laid off from his temporary assignment by Earl Martis.

A couple of years later Phil found himself in NYC and his brother Max recommended him to Matthew Koenig and Howard Cespedes. The day he went to talk to Howard, one of his favorite bands was doing an in store signing behind a large table and with an ice chest full of Budweiser Beer, leading Phil to think to himself “Oh, I’ve got to work here!” Phil got the job, worked his way to an amazing schedule through hard work and took in all that Manhattan had to offer. One Friday night while working his Country, Folk, Bluegrass section the local Capitol Records rep stopped by the store, unannounced, with an artist about to release his first album; Garth Brooks.

After being Assistant Manager to Howard Cespedes, Phil got burned out on NYC, left for a short stint in Dublin, CA with Kevin Cassidy and then headed to the first Chicago store working as Operations Manager with Greg Wallis. The store was a failure out of the gate and it took a long time before things caught on. Phil was promoted to the position of General Manager and worked with a strong team who ultimately made Chicago a Top 10 store in the chain.

From there Phil moved on to be a Video Regional Manager and then finished the last six years of his Tower Career as Midwest Regional Director, with a truly wonderful musical market of stores to oversee, until he left the company in 2005. 

Phil tells us about the amazing roster of Managers he oversaw, his TAC memories of Peter Glenn and Jack Gallagher, working with Bill Duffy, John Thrasher, Stan Goman and Russ Solomon, the end of his career consisting of closing stores and dealing with store resentment, having Tower dreams and a whole lot more. 

Join us for a wonderful, upbeat conversation with a true Tower jewel.