Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1923 Vol. 77 N. 22

10
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
DECEMBER 1, 1923
WORK PROGRESSING ON NEAL, CLARK & NEAL BUILDING
AEOLIAN CO. SALES MEETINGS
New Store, However, Will Not Be Ready Until After Christmas--"-A. E. Webb Buys Out Lan­
dauer Co. in Medina-Hans Barth Appears With the Ampico at Buffalo Hippodrome
Series of Sales Conferences Inaugurated for
Benefit of Company's Staff-Various Products
Explained in Detail and Various Successful
Selling Methods Explained and Discussed
.BUFFALO, N. Y., November 27.-Members of the
Buffalo music trade are quite pleased with re­
turns for the month of November. Despite
the fact that dealers are maintaining a waiting
attitude sales have been gOOQ and, in a num­
ber of instances, the buying public is not con­
sidering price when making their choice of an
instrument. It is believed that the moderate
weather has more or less affected the trade and,
with the appearance of freezing weather, buy­
ing and selling will be greatly stimulated. In­
dications are that December will be a whirl­
wind month for dealers. November balances
were greatly in advance of the balance on
books of the same IlIonth last year, is the gen­
eral report.
T A. Goold, of Goold Bros., Inc., said: "No­
vember started out rather slow, as it did last
year, but business was greatly stimulated about
the middle of the month. I look for December
to be a much better month than for the same
period last year. Our Ampico· trade has been
extremely good."
Mr. Goold believes their
Ampico business was stimulated by their ex­
hibit at the Homes Beautiful exhibition, where
concert~ were conducted daily with the Ampico.
R. E. Smith, sales manager of the Hoffman
Piano Co., said that November has been a very
pleasing month and. with the appearance of real
\;Vinter weather, there will be a great improve­
ment. "'vVe are experiencing an increasing de­
mand for grands and players," he said.
F. F. Barber, manager of the ]. N. Adam
Music Store, said: "We notice a greatly in­
creasin~ demand for talking machine~, but
players are still leading in volume of sales. The
greatest demand this month has been for
higher priced grands and player-pianos. Oc­
tober was rather slow and November has been
steadily increasing, so that now I can say we
are having the best piano business we have had
in a long time."
Work on remodeling of the Neal, Clark & .
Neal store is progTessing, but will not be com­
pleted until after Christmas. A good, thriving
business is being carried on at the temporary
store at 643 Main street.
Clarence Lucore, manager of the Neal, Clark
& )real s tore and the Mu,ic Lovers' Shoppe in
Rochester, is on an automobile trip to the Mid­
dle West, where he will visit a number of piano
factories. He has planned to call at the Gul­
bransen plant in Chicago; the Holton instru­
ment plant in Elkhorn, Ill.; the Schumann fac­
tory in Rockford,. Ill.; the Story & Clark Piano
Co., in Chicago, and a number of others.
A. E. Webb has bought out the business of
the Landauer Co., Inc., in Medina, and has re­
modeled the store into one of the finest music
establishments in a town the size of Medina in
the country.
Hans Barth is appearing in concert at Shea's
Hippodrome during the week of November 25,
with the Ampico, under the auspices of Goold
Bros., Inc.
O. 1.. Neal, of the Buffalo Talking Machine
·Co., spen t the week of N ovem bel' 19 in Camden,
N J., at the Victor plant.
FIRST SETTERGREN SHIPMENTS MADE
New Settergren Grand Chosen for Haviland
High School in Highly Competitive Sale
BLUFFTON, IND., November 24.-B. K. Setter­
gren, of the B. K. Settergren -Co., of this city,
announces that the first shipments made of the
Settergren grand have proved highly satisfac­
tory to the dealers who have received them.
One of the first instruments shipped out was
for the Haviland High School of Haviland,
Mich. Mr. Settergren was highly pleased with
this order as it ' was received in competition
with four other instrument, and, on the instance
of the local dealer, the Haviland high school
authorities sent a committee to the factory to
inspect the instrument. It was only after a
visit to four other factories that the final choice
of a Sattergren grand was made.
DEDICATION FOR HOCKETT=COWAN
VISALIA, CAL., November 22.- The Hockett­
Cowan Music Co., which moved from 302 Fast
Main street to its new quarters at :vrain and
Locust, has jus t held its formal dedication. S. S.
Hockett, president and senio·t member of the
firm, is one of the oldest music merchants still
'active in the Joaquin Valley. The Visalia store
was first opened in 1920 under the management
of Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Robbins, who are still
in charge.
Making tnore of the
stnal1 piano business
New Miessner Sales Plan
Means Bigger Dealer Profits
The new Miessner sales plan is even exceeding expecta­
tions. vVith it dealers are finding that they are able to
make more of their small piano business-that the Miess­
ner is becoming a leader as a money maker.
If you haven't the new Miessner sales plan, write to-day
and get it working for you immediately.
Dealers not handling the 3 ft. 7 in. high Miessner wi 11 find
it to their advantage to look into this now. The Miessner
is the original small piano. Built by \;V. Otto Miessner, a
music educator of note, first for schools. Its wonderful
tone and other qualities have brought the Miessner into
wide use for smaller homes and apartments, theaters,
clubs, etc.-which could lise no other instrument. Thu s
the Miessner in no way interferes with regular business.
If yOll are in a position to consiner the ?\fiessner line, we ~UggL:,t that
you look into it now, ·as there is activ~ demand for franchi .ses in almos t
every locality.
MIESSNER PIANO CO.
136 Reed St., Milwaukee, Wis.
MIESSNER
THE LITTLE prANO WITH THE. BIG TONE
With a view to lIlcreasing the efficiency of its
sales organization as a whole, the Aeolian Co.
has inaugurated a series of meetings which are
attended by all the salesmen and at which they
are given lectures and demonstrations covering
the various products marketed by the Aeolian
Co.
At the second meeting of the series held last
week, for instance, the subject was the Duo­
Art piano and impo·rtant facts regarding that
instrument and the best methods of selling it
v,'ere presented and discussed under the direc­
tion of William H. Alfring, general sales man­
ager of the company, who presided.
The sales lecture at the meeting was delivered
by Eleanor Shaw, the popular piamst, who has
been on tour with the Duo-Art, and a demon­
s tration r ecording was offered by Robert Arm­
bruster. Talks were also given by Mr. Alfring
and by Charles A . Laurino, retail sales manager
of the Aeo·l ian Co., special emphasis being
placed on the forthcoming holiday period of
the year.
Miss Shaw treated salesmansh.ip from the
angle nf the wnman buyer, detailing important
points for salesmen to remember in doing busi­
ness with her. She stressed the family and
home music notes, emphasizing the pride the
w oman buyer feels in the instrument. Miss
Shaw pointed out, too, the importance of the
'Salesman's sales story, showing that the buyer
alw a ys reme-mbers the things which the sales­
man says and the advice he gives during the
course of making the sale.
In the course of her talk Miss Shaw told of
a recent Duo-Art recital which she and Fred­
rrick Child, tenor, gave in the home of Josephus
Daniels, former Secretary of the Navy, in
Raleigh, N. C. From the recital and a subse­
quent interview with Mr. Daniels Miss Shaw
told her a udience she drew several very im­
portant facts from the viewpoint of the head
of the family which owns a Duo-Art. Mr.
Daniels said that the instrument, which had
come into his home as a piece of furniture, had
become a member of the family. The first meet­
Ing of the series was held October 25. Talks by
Mr. Alfring, Mr. Laurino, Herbert T. Proudfit,
"dvertising manager of the Aeolian Co. and
di recto·r of its promotion activities, and Lancelot
Farrar, who recently joined the Aeolian forces,
were featured.
PHOTO PLAYERREORGANIZATlON
Photo Player Co. Takes Assets of American
Photo Player Co. and Robert Morton Co.­
Claims Will Be Met as Soon as Possible
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., November 22.-It is an­
nounced that the plan fo'r the reorganization
of the American Photo Player Co. has been
successfully carried out and that all the assets
of the American Photo Player Co. and the Rob­
crt Morton Co. have been transferred to the
new firm known as the Photo Player Co.
Both the plant in Berkeley and the plant in
Van Nuys are in operation. The sales organ­
ization is being perfected and financing is be­
ing arranged as conditions warrant.
It is
stated that it is too early yet to make any defi­
nite commitment as to the payment of claims,
but the new company is controlled by the cred­
itors' committee and it s stock has been de­
posited as collateral to secure payment o·f
creditors of the old concern.
The assets of the Photo Player Co., the reor­
ganized concern, amount to $789,573.55, and are
free of obligation s, subject only to liabilities
contracted by the new corporation. I t is the
purpose in carrying on the business to confine
purcha ses as nearly as possible to concerns
that are creditors of the old corporation
,.
.
..
.­
DECEMBER 1, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
11
What Is the Overhead Expense Limit
Overhead Problems in the Talking Machine Department of the General Music Store Much Less Complex Due
to the General Practice of This Branch of the Music Industries in Pricing Instruments on a National
Basis and Selling at a Discount From the Retail List to the Dealer
'r
J
~
.
Talkin g m ac hines an d records are sold as
widely in the general music store as are piano·s ;
in fact, the music merchant who handles th e
latter and not the former is a striking exception
in the trade. How ever, the problem of over­
head in the talking machine department differs
radically from that in most of th e other depart­
ments in the slor e, since national retail prices
prevail in that end of the t ra.de and the deal er
is sharply limited by the discount which he re­
ceives from the manufacturer and must adjust
his overhead within the limits of this margin.
A second fa cto r in this co ndition is that the
le ad in g lin es of talking nuchin es and records are
nationally advertised an d that a good proportion
of th e retail se llin g work, as a consequence, is
done by the manufacturer. ll ence th e overhead
expense in thi s (lepartment tends to range lower
than it doe s in most of the other departments
of the gen era l music stores.
The se facts were all clearly developed in the
investigation of overhead expense in retail music
stores recen tly conducted by The Review. The
rep lies of the dealers sho w ed lower overheads
here and developed clearly the difference in the
problems of this department. They showed that
the talking machine department manager is in
a fa vor ed position, since he has a definite pur­
chas.e price and a definite selling price, with
an exact percentage of mark-up between the
two. The problem here, therefore, is not to
mark th e goods to cover his o·verh ead and n et
profit, but rather to keep the overhead so far
within the mark-Up limits a s to allow for a
suitab le net pro fit in the final a naly sis.
T he qu estion for th e head of the ta lk ing
machine department is not so much whether
the di s count from the list price of the manu­
facturer is 40 or 40 and 10 or 50 pe r cent, as
it is how he ca n keep his distributing expense,
in cluding all overhead charges, wit h in a fi gure
th at will a llov,( him to retain at lea st 10 per cent
of the sellin g price, or perhaps more, as his own.
Average Figures Used
The fic:ures used in this table are, of course,
average ones. Th ere are talking machine de­
partments in general music stores the over­
head expense of which ran ge much higher than
those quoted h e re. Salaries were reported as
high as 16 per cent, delivery charges in some
cases went over 3 per cent, rent was r eported
as hi gh as 7 per cent and advertising as 9 per
cen t. But these were the except ional cases; in
fact, houses th at reported gen eral overheads of
ov e r 30 per cent were few an d far between.
Yct th ere was one of the larges t houses in the
country the average overhead expense of which
ran over this figure.
Althou g h th e he ad of the talkin,:; machine
department has th e advantage of fixed costs and
fixed selling prices in figuring his business ac­
co unt s, he is handicapped in a considerable
measure on that ve r y account, for, as pointed
o ut in this article al ready, he must keep his
JUNIUS HART OPENS NEW STORE
ADDS TWO STORIES TO BUILDING
Well-known New Orleans Music House Oc­
cupies New Four-story Building
KNOXVIL.LE, TE'IN., '\'ovemher 24.- -The J. V.
Led.'.;erwoocl 'lvIusic Co., of this cit y, ha s an­
nounced plans for the addition of two stories
[0 the building w hich the con cern now occupies.
This is the iourth ('xpansion of thi s firm.
)1,,\\. OR!.E.\,>,S, L.\., November 26.-The ne\\
Cjuartcc, of the Junius Hart Pi ano Co a t 123
('a rond e1c t str eet h ave just b een formally
op ened, and will afford the company spacioLl~
an d up-to-date showrooms befittin ;.~ their re pu­
t ~ltion
and prestige.
The Hart conce rn,
31 th o u ~ h a Lo ui siana corporati on , is the Soul h­
e rn representative of W. W . Kimball &. Co., of
Chicago, alld the Kimball piano is handled ('x
elusively. The house dates b ack to 1872, when
it was fir st established at (a nal and BUfl';llndy.
FrolTl there the firm moved to other points in
the Cana l street zone, being cO lJlpelled to seek
more co mlTlodious quarters for it s incrC:lsing
business .
.'\ conside rabl e part of the front of the new
store is devoted to large display window o
capablc: of g-iving- a com prehen sive idea of the
~ tor e 's co nt ents. Flanking th e entrance passage
are the departillents subleased to thr Conn New
Orleans Co., rer:ional ag ent s for Conn band
instrulllent<, and the sheet music shor> of Frank
& yIcNall1a ra, who ga ined their experience
w ith Leo Feist, Inc., in )lew York. The sound­
proof booths for phonograph records and pla yer
rolls are equipped with an apparatus fo r private
demonstration, and are supplied w ith purified
ai r by a special vt;ntilation device.
The store in its completed form is one o.f the
finest in the South.
With thi s article is published a table of av er­
age overhead expenses in tlie talkin g machin e
departments of a large number of general music
~to-res, compiled from the results of The Re-
fllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllnlllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!IIIII1I1111U1I11II1lI!llIIlIIIIIllIIIIIIllIllUlllllllllllllllllii
~
Overhead in the Talking Machine ~
Department
~
i Salaries .... . ......... . l3perc en t I
~ Delivery ..............
2 per cent i
~ Repai r Department ... .
1 per cent ~
i Advertising ... .'....... 6 per cent i
~ Rent ........... ,. .... .
3percent ~
~ Depreciation ..... . ....
1 per cent ~
= Financing and carrying
i
trade-ins ............
.1 pe r cent
~
i
~
Total overhead expense
27 per cent ;
~llIltjllljlllll'lllllllllllilmllll.'UilUUillll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllli l,1!1I1I11H1l"IIIIJJiI:LUllfllllllJllml(llJlJIIl! l l lil'lIlIllJlJ[llll~
view's questionnaire, and which strikin g ly con­
firm this analysis of the situation:
AMES BUVS OUT S. J. SLOANE
CAMF.1{() N, Mo .. November 26.-F. H. Ames, of
Jamesport. has purcha sed the m usic and jewelry
business co sts within the prescribed limI ts and
must do this adjusting by shaving here a nd
th ere, rather than as in the case with other
products, not na ti onally priced, increasing his
mark-up to allow for the n et profit margin. In
other words, if a department manager finds
that it is co'Sting him 3S per cent of his retail
price to move the goods, leaving him only 5
per ce nt net profit, he cannot increase that sell­
ing price to protect th e n ex t margin, for the
list price is the maximum price. His only
course lies in effecting economies in hi~ bu~i­
ness al ong lines that ar e at lea st lik ely to cut
down this disproportio.nate percentage.
The importance of providin g suffici ent ne t
p rofits through the mediuTll of econ o lilies, in
businesses \\here an u pward revision of resale
prices is not possible, has been realized by th e
united States Go·vernment itself, which, through
th e D epartment of Commerce, ha s called con­
ferences of business men to consider the ques­
tion of eliminating waste in th e distribution of
\ arious products. The president of the Nat ional
Assoc iation of Mu si c Merchants, with which a
lar !;e number of talking machine dealers are
affi li ated , ha s likewise taken cognizance of the
import a nce of this work by app ointing- a com­
mittee of repre;; entative trade m embers to con­
sider a nd report on the same problem.
Economies Through Better Selling Plans
By putting economies into effect it is not
lil eant that savings shou ld be made on equip­
ment, on stock or by hiring sa les people of low
caliber. The way out is more likely to be found
in rearranging the sales plan and th e advertis­
ing plan, including the covering of the mailing
li cien cy an d, consequently, greater re su lts. In
short, th e problem is no t so nlu ch that of do­
ing- the same volume of business at le ~s exp e nse,
but ratht'r of d etermining ways and m ea ns for
handling a larger volume of business at the
same expe ns e.
business of S. J. Sloane, who has been es tab­
lished h ere since 1907. The new proprietor is
already in c harge of th e s tor e. Mr. Sloane will
rpmain in Cameron and will be an officer in the
Citizens' State Bank.
SIOUX FALLS CO. BANKRUPT
SIO UX FALLS, S. D., NO\'embe t 26.-The Sioux
Falls Piano Co., throu gh its owner, George L.
Fish, has filed a petition in bankruptcy with
liab iliti es of $46,164 and assets of $22.
Florey Bros. Grand Pianos Are Distinguished
THEY are distinguished from all other brands for several
important reasons. Among these we might mention
. '.
f. ~ "
_._ 'c'l
~...J
~
t;~j:­
",.:1
,
Washington
Exceptional standard of mu sical tone, individual design and
unusual refinement in workmanship and finish. They are
manifestly superior in every detail, made by OLD SCHOOL
CRAFTSMEN, on a basis of Quality Standard rather than Quan­
tity Output.
Dealers whose customers discriminate
should write for our literature .
1J11orry 1!lr05.
New] ersey

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