Music Trade Review

J VLY
28, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
9
TO HAVE DEALERS CHARGE INTEREST ON INSTALMENTS
Baltimore Trade Endeavoring to Make That Universal Practice Among the Dealers in That City
-Better Grade Pianos and Players in Demand-C. ]. Roberts Returns From Trip
BALTIMORE, Mo., July 24.--July business so far
as it goes has bee n fair, ge nera ll y speaking,
and in a numb e r of cas es ha s exceeded expecta­
ti o n s of the trade, especially in the sales of
g rand s and other hi gh er- gra d e instruments.
T h e Kranz-Smith P iano Co. is one of the stores
reporting a ve ry go od busine ss in g rands and,
acco rdin g to Joseph Fink, pres id ent of the com­
pa n y, it has only one M aso n & H am lin g rand
in th e hou se. C harl es M. Stieff, Inc., is an­
other firm that r eport s a goo d business on
both S ti e ff s a nd S haw s , not on ly in Ba ltimore ,
but in the m a jorit y of it5 branch hous es.
S. P. Wa lker, ge nera l manager, sa id that last
week's busine,s o f the firm was abo ut twice ­
as much as t h e correspond in g week of 1922
and that co ll ec ti o ns a lso s howed a very g ratify­
in g incr ease for the same period.
A movement throughout th e tr a de is now on
foot to have eve r y piano ho use ch arge int e res t
o n tim e payment sa les a nd is reported as meet­
in g with ve r y good resu lts genera ll y . \Vhi le
prac ti ca ll y everyo ne of th e hi ghe r class stores ,
with o ne or two excep ti ons, has already a dop t­
ed the p la n of chargin g in t eres t on a ll ti me
payment s, there arf' several of the smaller firms
whic h do not a nd an effo rt is b ein g m a de to
line th em up with th e m ajori t y.
In co mm entin g on thi s move, one of the m en
whose hou se ha s a lways in s is ted o n doin g bu s i­
n ess lh at wa y on time payme nt sai d :
"Ju s t w h y eve r y d ea le r in Ba ltim ore cannot
see how it would work to h is ad va nta ge to
charge interest on a ll time payment sales is a
puzzle to me?
" In the first place, it ta k es consi d era bl e capi­
tal to carry th ese time payme nt s a lo n g a nd
you ca nn o t go to the bank a nd get mo ney'wit h­
out pay in g in terest on it. Practica ll y a ll oth er
lin es of bll "in ess w here the sa les run up into
hundr ed s of dollar s, lik e th e piano bu s in ess,
c har ge inter est' a nd t h ere is no goo d r easo n
why th e piano d ea ler sho uld carry thi s burd e n
any mo re than any other b us iness, w h ere in a
number o f cases th e het p rofit is cons id e ra bl y
more than that on pianos.
"Take the automobile business, fo r in s ta nce.
You cannot bu y a car, not eye n a fli vve r, on
tim e payme nts without paying interes t, and ju s t
w h y a numb e r of dea le rs wi ll s ta nd in the Ir own
li ght in this r espec t is beyond my und ers ta nd­
ing. If a ll the d ea le rs wo uld o nl y ge t toge th er
and p ut t he plan into effec t we would do ju s t
as mu ch bu s iness a nd at th e sa m e tim e would
avoid carry in g an unnec essa ry burde n for sev­
era l yea rs."
E. S. Willi am s report s goo d results in the·
way of dispos in g of the BosClte'n & Sm ith stock
of pi a nos at the old location a t Par k ave nu e
and Fayette st reets and will move int o th e n ew
store lit ' 325 North Charles s tr eet: recent ly pur­
cha se d fr o m the C. B. Noon Co., In c., 'w here
the b usi ness will be continued und e r the firm
Ilame of J . H . William s Co.
O ne of t h e features in a music a l lin e a nd at
th e sa me t im e one of th e most in struct ive in
the way of teach ing or educa tin g the public t he
b ea ut y of classical music ove r jazz was th e musi­
ca l act of Ze laya at the Mar y la nd T h eatre last
week.
Zelaya, who u sed a Ba ld wi n piano,
loaned by th e Kunkel Piano Co., durin g hi s act,
wou ld ha ve th e orches tra playa pi ece of ja zz
mu s ic a nd th e n follo w it up w ith a c lass ical
pi ece, leav in g th e audie nce to b e th e jud ge. Hi s
;tct, \\' h ic h was hi g hl y prai sed by the loca l music
c ritic s, made one of the hits of t he week and
hi s pe rfor mance on the piano was one of t he
best heard h ere for some t ime.
C. J . Roberts, sa les manager of Char les M .
St ieff, In c., has just return ed from a business
trip to Scr a nton , Pa., and O. B. Lank, m a nage r
of th e Harri s bur g, Pa., branc h of the firm, ac­
co mpa ni ed b y Mr. Thomas, al so of th e Harri s­
bur g bra nc h, spe nt a couple of da ys in Ba lti­
mo r e thi s week.
Sam u el Fink , of the Kranz-Smith Pian() Co.,
is s pendi ng a tw o weeks' vacation a t Ocean
Ci ty.
E. Pa ul H ami lt o n, of the Ch icke r ing Ware­
rooms , reports ve r y good results from a tea m
sellin g co nt est which he ha s bee n co ndu ctin g
amo ng- th e sa les ll1 e n lor th e past few months.
The sa les forr e i, di vided into t wo teams and
c redit ed wi t h a ce rtain nUlllb er o f po ints on
sales a nd in a ddition to individu a l pri zes give n
by th e firm th e lo sin g team has to s tand for the
dinn er for the winners. The sta ndin g of both
team s and indiv id ua ls is po s t ed in th e office
dail y an d is o ne of the first points a sales man
mak es fo r when h e turn s a ft e r a day's work,
th e sco re bei n g pos ted fr o m th e previous da y's
business.
C. B. Noo n, w ho r ece ntl y di sposed of the
busin ess he s ta rted at 325 Nort h 'Ch a rl es str ee t
a li tt le over a yea r ago, was confi ned to hi s
hom e for a co upl e of days thi s week, but is
again "ba ck on th e j o b."
NEW SALEM FIRM GROWING RAPIDLY
JOHN CHRISTMAN ON VACATION
Bowden & LeBlanc Make Rapid Progress in
Six Months of Business
Jo hn Chri stman, or th e C hri stm a n Pi a no Co.,
New Yo rk , is at present spe ndin g hi s vaca tion
with hi s fami ly in eas te rn Ca nad a , hav in g ta ken
the a ll-wa ter r o ut e to Quebec. H e is ex pe cted
to visi t New fou ndl and a lso, and w ill spe nd a
week or so at one of th e exc lu s ive Sumll1er
ho tels on Murray Bay. Mr. C hri s tm an, who is
a lover of th e sea, selec ted th e n or th e rn ocea n
t r ip in pr efe rence to European tr ave l in order
t o lessen hi s tim e away from Ih e fa c t o ry this
yea r, wh ich is running at capacity a nd requires '
hi s prese nce to take care of the curr e nt ord ers
com in g in .
SALEM, ?lJASS.. July 24.-0n e of the mos t suc­
cess ful piano and ta lkin g lI1 ac hin e d ea le rs in
this city is th e firm o f Bow d en & LeB lanc,
258 Washin g ton str eet, whic h ope n ed a n a ttr ac ­
tive, we ll-stock ed store about six months ago.
The proprietors, Tho mas R. Bowde n a nd Adrian
LeBlanc, both wid e ly ex perience d in the music
business, have achieved signa l success in th e
short time th ey ha ve bee n ope ra tin g the loca l
es t a bli s hment. R ece ntl y a one-week sa les dri ve
was in au g urat ed which resu lted in the sale of
tw enty-six pianos a nd pla ye r -pi a nos. Les te r,
Gordon a nd Rjur pianos a r e handled .
C. B. NIEMANN MARRIED
Anno uncement h as ju st been made at th e
C hr is t man Piano Co., New Yo rk , of th e m a r­
r ia ge of C. B. N iemann , manager o f the ship­
ping department of th e C hri s tman fa ctory . Mr.
Ni emann's bride was a Mi ss \ Va rd, who ha s
ac hie ved considerable notice as a n amateur
artis t and interior d eco rator. The g room is on e
o f t he youn ger members of t he Christma n
o ffi ce force,
SCHUBERT NATIONAL RETAIL LIST
The latest firm to a d opt the sys tem of na­
ti ona l retail p ri ces is t he Schu be r t Pia no Co.,
of New Yo rk , w hi ch r ecently iss ued suc h prices
p r int ed o n ca rd s in a co nv e ni ent form on its
entir e lin e, in clu ding upri g ht s, pl aye r-piano s , re­
p ro du cin g pianos a nd grands. T he lists a lso in­
clude na ti o na l r eta il pri ces for a numb er of
cxt ras.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
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Victrola No. 125
$275
Electric, $315
}.Iahoga ny o r wa lnut
Other styles $25 to $1500
Victor supremacy
is the supremacy
of performance
Wherever m u SIC IS
known, the Victrola is
known-and its su­
per i 0 r it y recognized.
That is a consideration
of vital Importance to
every dealer in Victor
products.
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"HIS M~,S:':~~:~. VOICE"
Victrola
REG. U .S . PAT. OFF
look under the lid and on the labels
for these Victor trade -marks
Victor Talking
Machine Co.
Camden, N. J.