Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TWENTY-THIRD YEAR.
those men, and do not use their name simply carried through, and used in an effective
as a drawing card to impose a lot of cheap trade way.
stuff upon your constituency. Select good
The scheme is worth the trial.
instruments and tie to them, and don't make
the mistake of indulging in too great an COMPETITION THAT DEMORALIZES.
R e c k l e s s credit r^ ERTAIN sensation-
assortment, and too many pianos of the same
EDWARD LYMAIM BILL,
granted by 1 u m b e r -
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
a 1 d i s c i osures
men—The collapse of
grade. In that case you never will build
J . B. S P I L L A N E , MANAGING EDITOR.
a piano case manufac- made after the collapse
up a strong following for any particular in-
turer shows a loose
THOS. CAMPBELL-COPELAND
granting of credits— of some local piano case
WALDO E. LADD
strument, and every manufacturer with
Executive Staff:
Dishonorable compe-
GEO. W. QUERIPEL
tition created.
manufacturers w o u l d
A. J. NICKLIN
whom you do business will be dissatisfied
seem
to
indicate
that
lumber men have been
PnMStol Every Saturday at 3 East 14th Street, New^ Yon. with the volume of trade which you are
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage). United States, Mexico
doing for him. Variety is a good thing, of somewhat reckless with their credits and have
and Canada, $2.00 per year; all other countries, $4.00.
ADVERTISErtENTS, $2.00 per inch, single column, per
insertion. On quarterly or yearly contracts a special discount
course, but we have seen the piano stores hardly taken the necessary precaution to in-
is allowed. Advertising Pages $jo.oo, opposite reading matter,
$75.00.
with too much of it. We have counted in vestigate the character and standing of in-
REniTTANCES, in other than currency form, should be
made payable to Edward Lyman Bill.
one store twenty-two different brands, of dividuals to whom they have granted credit
Entered at tht New York Past Office as Second Class Matter
pianos, a small store at that, and the dealer in a very elastic way.
~
NEW YORK, SEPT. 7, 1901.
Some piano manufacturers have been ac-
himself did but little trade, or had no spe-
TELEPHONE NUMBER, 1745-EIQHTEENTH STREET.
THE
On the first Saturday of each cial following for any instruments, and was cused of extending credit to unworthy men
ARTISTS'
month The Review contains in its
and helping to maintain a competition far
DEPARTMENT " Artists' Department" all the cur- all at sea—rudderless, so to speak. Let your
rent musical news. This is effected
from honorable. It would seem as if the
without in any way trespassing on the size or ser- assortment be generous—enough to satisfy
lumber
men could with perfect propriety be
vice of the trade section of'the paper. It has a the variety of tastes, of course; but select
special circulation, and therefore augments mater-
ially the value of The Review to advertisers.
judiciously and wisely; bring your best accused of the same practice. To illustrate,
DIRECTORY OF
The directory of piano manu- taste into play and select instruments that it is said that a case manufacturer in New '
u MANUFACTURERS
^ P r . ^ T i r>.r • facturing firms and corporations
f o u n d o n p a g e 2O w i n be of great
appeal to every class, and best of all, sell York was in the habit of furnishing cases
value as a reference for dealers and others.
at from ten to fifteen dollars per case less
every instrument in its class.
than
the actual cost of lumber and labor.
Is your store right for fall business? If
EDITORIAL
your store is in the midst of a rich agricul- He did not pay his bills, and while his credit
tural country as many piano stores in the lasted was enabled to cut materially under
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FALL.
the men who met their obligations; but the
ALL business! And West and South are, recollect September
smash-up was inevitable. When it came there
is here and things should hum.
—The question of .
every piano m e r -
was
nothing for the creditors and his method
stock—Quality above
,
A harvest sale sounds nice and pleasant
price —Store sugges- chant is asking himself
tions—A harvest sale
i , • . • ,
to the ear, doesn't it? You get none of the of cutting prices became known. In order
r ,1
— Decorative effects w h a t 1S m s s h a r e o £ t h e
unpleasant taste of the bankrupt, or the nau- to get trade he cut prices far below the cost,
—A novel plan.
business to be—better
seating odor of the fire sale, nothing but the but it was not his money that was lost in
or worse than a year ago.
the transaction. The lumber men, the ma-
We have now crossed the dead line, and ripe, rich golden harvest that will bring chinery men and others were paying the
September is the hustling month for fall charm to the town folk and captivate the price of his pace.
preparation. Are you maturing the right country people.
Let us go a step further and see how such
After having secured your stock, the next
kind of plans, Mr. Piano Merchant? Are
move is to get your local interest aroused. competition injures legitimate trade.
your orders all in?
The men purchasing his cases were en-
Will the fall mean unqualified success to Use printer's ink galore, and with it some
personal solicitation. Awaken interest by abled to cut below similar case designs, and
you, or are you leaving your neighbor to
by offering a few special bargains. The bar- competing piano manufacturers were com-
reap the big harvest?
pelled to lower their already narrow mar-
Will yours be the store in your commu- gain business is all right if it is not worked
gin of profits or see their trade gravitate
to death.
nity, or will the one down the street bear
It would be rather a novel idea in con- elsewhere.
the responsibility of receiving a greater
Dealers who were buying pianos from
nection with the harvest sale to have a few
share of public trade and confidence?
the manufacturer who was supplied by the
Important questions, these, when you stop healthy decorative harvest features in the
store. It would make your institution the dishonest case men, would compare the
to consider them.
most talked about of any in the country. cases and at once claim that he could not
Fall stocks—where success or failure is
see the extra ten or fifteen dollars in value
pretty sure to follow—what are they to be? Of course, you can carry it out as elabo-
rately as you desire, and turn your store which regular trade was compelled to ask,
Bright, up-to-date, reliable goods, holding
into a veritable harvest picture. Let your and the sequel is the regular trade loses.
the quality above price; or a lot of cheap,
Of course, piano manufacturers could not
windows reflect the motive of the event with-
stencilled, degenerate kind of stuff that some
be
blamed for buying of the cut-rate case
men still delude themselves with the be- in. Accomplish some good window effects
man. It is to their interest to buy where
with the simple use of sheaves of wheat.
lief that it pays to handle ?
they
can secure the largest values, and it
Why not a harvest sale in the piano line?
It matters not to what class of trade your
may be said that it is of no particular in-
It is a novelty; it is clean-cut and catchy.
store may cater, there must be a certain
What dealer will be the first to inaugurate terest to them whether the case man pays
amount of quality in everything to give you
his bills or not.
it and dress his store up accordingly?
F
the prestige you desire. It isn't the mere
We do not mean to have a vegetable gar-
matter of figuring that you carry high-grade
den
in one end, and a lot of green corn and
goods, and emblazoning your windows with
glittering signs of well-known firms in piano pumpkin pies to eat in the other, but a clever
nomenclature. Make the agencies pay for little harvest decorative scheme can be easily
That is not within our province to argue,
but simply to show that a dishonest com-
petition injures legitimate trade interests and
has a demoralizing effect upon the industry.