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MARCH 10, 1923
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
The Retail Reproducing Piano Studio
Leading Dealers Find the Atmosphere in Which This Instrument Is Displayed to the Prospective Customer
an Important Factor in Closing the Sale—Some Striking Examples of Properly Planned Repro-
ducing Studios in the Warerooms oi Some of the Country's Dealers
The advent of the reproducing piano, espe-
cially the high-grade grand, has brought into
greater prominence than ever the importance of
atmosphere in the retail piano warerooms, and,
as a consequence, has posed problems in in-
terior decoration which require considerable
planning and attention to solve. To show this
instrument properly, to give the prospective cus-
tomer a visualization of how it will appear when
finally placed in the home requires a consider-
able modification of the ordinary commercial
appearance of a wareroom, and the choice of
a happy medium between over-decoration and
the suggestion of a room in which the average
person would be content to live.
Over-Elaboration an Evil
In endeavoring to achieve this, the piano mer-
chant too often falls a victim to the lures of the
interior decorator, who works out a decorative
plan for the reproducing studios that throws the in-
strument itself into the background. A reproducing
piano studio, decorated and furnished in such a
fashion that the first impression of the prospect upon
entering is the elaborate furnishings, is a posi-
tive detriment to the sale, for it distracts the
customer's attention from the main object and
imposes upon the salesman the extra labor of
once more bringing it back. This may seem
a fine point, but in making a sale that may
range as high as $4,500 in amount, the dealer
and salesman cannot afford to disregard any
factor, no matter how finely drawn it may seem
to be.
In every decorative scheme the reproducing
piano, the instrument which is to be sold, should
dominate. In planning the studio for its dis-
play this fact should always be carried in mind.
The decorative plan should be built around the
instrument and not the instrument fitted to the
decorative plan. Decorations in a wareroom are
essentially selling factors and they should be
treated in this fashion.
Some Successful Examples
The illustrations with this article show four
different ways in which dealers have met this
problem successfully. They include one of the
Ampico Studios of the Knabe Warerooms in
New York, a corner of the reproducing piano
display room of Sohmer & Co., in New York,
one of the reproducing piano rooms of the
San Francisco house of Sherman, Clay & Co.
and the display room of the Meiklejohn Co.,
of Providence. In each of these cases it will
be noticed how the reproducing piano is in the
foreground, how the instrument itself dominates
and how the decorative schemes simply serve
as a background, just as the scenic investiture
of a play serves but to accentuate the work of
the actors when the producer knows his busi-
ness. Characteristic of these examples also is
NEW MEHLIN DEALER IN FLORIDA
Maxey, Grunthall & Bros, Secure Distribution
Rights to Mehlin Pianos in Northern Florida
—Plan Big Campaign
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., March 6.—Maxey, Grunthall
& Bros., 710 Cedar street, this city, have been
placed in charge of the distribution of the Meh-
lin line of pianos in the northern Florida terri-
tory. This concern is one of the most promi-
nent music houses in the northern portion of
the State and' has an organization fully capable
of doing justice to the Mehlin line. Each mem-
ber of the firm is familiar with piano building
in a practical way and the fact that the concern
has one of the largest repair departments in the
country indicates that dealers who do business
the creation of that home atmosphere to as
great an extent as is possible in a commercial
establishment, which, as pointed out earlier in
this article, gives the prospective customer a
for the basis of the plan in decorating the room.
The greatest danger run in planning a retail
reproducing piano display room, and this can-
not be repeated too many times, is the tendency
Four Retail Reproducing Piano Studios
(1) One of the Duo-Art Rooms of Sherman, Clay & Co., San Francisco. (2) A Corner of the Ampico Studios, Knabe
Warerooms, New York. (3) Reproducing Room of the Meiklejohn Co., Providence, R. I. (4) One of the Rooms of
Sohmer & Co., New York, Displaying the Sohmer-Welte (Licensee)
complete picture of the way the instrument
itself will appear in the home.
With the growing popularity of the period
style instrument, the problem of decorating the
reproducing piano display room has become
more complicated. No pronounced period deco-
rative style can be used, but rather one that
will harmonize with the periods embodied in
the cases. A certain degree of neutrality is
thus required, which calls for a greater artistic
sense than when a defined period can be used
towards over-elaborateness. This has cost the
retail trade a good deal of money in the past
on which there has been no return. For it has
aided in killing sales.
A proper background for the display of the
reproducing piano is a profitable investment for
the dealer, for the instrument, especially in its
more expensive models, requires it, and such
a background should always be a matter of
careful planning, for without that it defeats its
own purposes.
with this house will get service of a high order.
The concern also has a large retail depart-
ment, which, through aggressive merchandising
methods, has grown to large proportions. The
Mehlin, of course, will be the leader here and
will occupy a prominent place in the warerooms.
STEADY BUYS_BARLEY CONCERN
THEARLE MUSIC_C0. ELECTS
SAN DIEGO, CAL., March 6.—Alfred D. LaMotte,
formerly vice-president and general manager of
the Thearle Music Co., of this city, was elected
president to succeed the late F. G. Thearle. He
will also continue as general manager. Other
officers elected were Harry E. Callaway, man-
ager of the talking machine department, vice-
president, to succeed Mr. LaMotte. Mrs. Lillie
E. Burton was re-elected secretary-treasurer.
BERLIN, N. H., March 5.—With the buying of
the stock, rights and title of the Barley Music
Rooms, this city, by E. A. Steady & Son, this
well-known and long-established business re-
verts to its original owners, for it was Mr.
Steady who was the pioneer in the music busi-
ness here. The first store of this kind in this
city was started by Mr. Steady in the Fall
of 1896.
WENTWORTH CO. BANKRUPT
WATERVII.I.E, ME., March 5.—Liabilities of $46,-
340.22 were listed in the U. S. District Court
in Portland recently by the Wentworth Music
Co. in a voluntary petition of bankruptcy.