Born in New York City to Greek parents, Despina “Debbie” Panagoulias eventually moved to Greece because her father, Alkis Panagoulias was a national Celebrity as the Manager of the Greek National Soccer team (think Bill Belichick). Growing up, it was her Mother’s love of American culture and that introduced Despina into popular music.
At age 15 Despina and her family moved to the Washington DC area as her father took a job as he head coach of the United States men’s national soccer team and was later the Head Coach of the US Men’s National Soccer team and then Head Coach of the US Olympic Soccer team in 1984. While dad was taking on coaching jobs, Despina was taking on music retail jobs; first at Waxie Maxies a Washington DC/Baltimore area record chain and then at Tower Records Tysons Corner in 1988.
On this episode, we learn about why Despina’s mother insisted on calling her Debbie; Greek record stores that didn’t sell records; the culture shock of moving from cosmopolitan Greece to the sleepy suburbs of Washington DC; the early days of Tower Records Tysons Corner, Alexandria and Rockville, MD; Debbie’s many hats as Video Regional, Book Regional, Video & Book Regional, Product Director, Regional Director and whatever else they threw at her; how the people she started with at Tower Tyson’s Corner became her lifelong friends; what she enjoyed most about her work with Tower; the mentors she had who helped guide her Tower career; the last hurrah of the Tower Records Bonnaroo store 5 months before Tower closed down for good and what the Federal Government could learn that Tower Records learned long ago.
Join us for a well rounded discussion about all things Tower Records.