The Tower Records building in Glasgow has been bought over by the owner of the Blue Lagoon - though the fish and chip shop chain will not operate from the premises.
The B-listed building in the city centre next to Central Station housed the music chain for many years but the outlet closed in 2002.
Music Zone took over the property but closed the Argyle Street store in 2007.
Famed for hosting a gig by Bon Jovi in 1995, planning was submitted to turn the former warehouse into a bar restaurant and nightclub in 2013 but that never materialised.
That followed a brief use of the building by That's Entertainment, which ceased trading in that same year.
READ NEXT: Glasgow pond reduced to 'muddy puddle' as water levels drop once again
READ NEXT: Architect reveals inspiration behind the new Renfrew Bridge
The property, 217-221 Argyle Street, was put up for auction in 2022 with a Net Annual Value of £136,000 and a guide price of £1,755,000.
It has now been announced that the former Tower Records has been purchased by Blue Lagoon Fish & Chip Shops Ltd.
The chippy chain will not operate from the building, however, with a tenant lined up for the ground floor and the potential to operate the upper floors as office space.
The company said: "The building is iconic in the city and it has been regrettable that it has been empty for long over a decade.
Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet performing out of the window of Tower Records (Image: Newsquest)
"Our intention is to bring the full building back to life to enhance the area and the city centre in general. We see the property as a sleeping giant with lots of potential.
"We have a tenant lined up for the ground floor which will be confirmed in due course, and we are still assessing our options with regards to the upper floors."
In 2022 plans were lodged for the vacant building to be converted into restaurants.
A change-of-use application said: "The property at 217 Argyle Street is an attractive Venetian-style, cast iron building.
“The property, all of which is in the ownership of the applicant, covers four floors and basement. It was previously occupied by Tower Records, the music company but was vacated 15 years ago and since that time, despite extensive marketing, has remained vacant.
“While the applicant owns the entire building, this application relates solely to the basement, ground and first floors. At this time there are no proposals for the upper floors.”
It is not clear if the lease which has been lined up by Blue Lagoon will be a restaurant at this stage.
Tower Records, later Music Zone and That's Entertainment (Image: Herald and Times Archive)
As well as Bon Jovi, the likes of Texas and Del Amitri played in-store gigs at Tower Records on Arygle Street.
The US company took over the building in 1990, its biggest outlet outside of London.
By September 2001 though it faced competition from Virgin, HMV and Fopp on nearby Union Street and closed two-thirds of the branch while cutting staff.
A month later it began offering discount records and renamed itself Tower Outlet, but closed its doors for good in May 2002.
Music Zone took over the building in December 2006, but just weeks later the company went into administration.
It later announced the closure of 31 stores, including Argyle Street, with the loss of 45 jobs in Scotland.
Music Zone ceased trading with debts of £31m by the end of January 2007.
In September 2011 That's Entertainment opened in the building but closed two years later.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article