After two days of speculation a federal bankruptcy judge late Friday approved the sale of Tower Records to Woodland Hills-based Great American Group, which said it plans to liquidate the music retailer.

After nearly 30 hours of bidding, Great American won with a bid of $134.3 million, beating Trans World Entertainment, which had hoped to continue operating at least some Tower stores, according to reports.

Peter Gurfein, an attorney representing Tower Records, said in a statement that the company will be sold for an aggregate of $150 million, with its Web site, its record label and certain real estate and lease holdings, including the famed Sunset Blvd location which will reportedly be sold for $12 million, made up the rest of the $150-million sale.

Gurfein said Great American plans to begin the liquidation process and going out of business sales immediately, which will result in the elimination of more than 3,000 jobs.

Tower Records has 89 stores in 20 states and is more than $200 million in debt, which lead to the company’s second Chapter 11 filing last month. In the filing, the company said it has been hurt by an industry-wide decline in music sales, downloading of online music and competition from big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

Trans World, which has about 1,100 mall-based stores nationwide reportedly lost the bid by $500,000. The company had recently acquired music retailers Sam Goody and Wherehouse Music, and said it was poised to try and revive the struggling music store.