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REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXI. No. 18
Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. Oct. 31, 1925
Bln
«'£
$2.00 Per Tsar
Player-Piano Is in Dominant Demand
in the Foreign Colonies
A Survey of the Foreign-Born Sections of Chicago Shows This Instrument Ranging as High as 90 Per Cent
of the Total Demand With Some Dealers Catering to This Type of Trade—Methods Which
Sell the Foreign-Born Buyer—Developing Contract and Closing Sales
T
HE rules applicable to the many problems
confronting the music merchant to-day
do not always operate as effectively in
dealing with the foreign element as with the
Americanized purchaser. It is found by those
dealers who have to deal with the Polish, Ital-
ian, Lithuanian, Slavish, Scandinavian or what-
ever nationality it happens to be, that certain
peculiarities, tastes, customs and methods of
doing business have to be reckoned with and
mastered if the dealer is to build up and main-
tain the foreign class of trade in his locality.
Unconsciously the successful merchant that is
selling this class of trade becomes a type of
psychological analyist. He does more than size
up his prospect. He has accumulated valuable
knowledge about the nationality which his pros-
pect represents and his mind is alert to swing
the sale under the most trying circumstances
which a foreign buyer is continually creating.
Price and terms seem to be the main issues
in the foreign sale and it is over these that the
foreign buyer uses a great deal of craftiness in
bartering for the instruments. In most cases
the foreigner has an ear for music and his idea
of value, especially among the Slavic peoples,
represents large, bulky instruments, with good
cases and, of course, good tone. The sale seems
to the dealer to be continually swinging like a
pendulum, backward and forward over these
questions, and, even after the customer has been
sold, the dealer has to be ready to resell the
customer on the question of payments.
Conditions in Chicago
Chicago offers a wide field for observation
of the various types of foreigners, the different
sections of the city being settled by many differ-
ent nationalities. l'or instance, in the north-
west section along Milwaukee avenue about 80
per cent of the dealers' trade is Polish and
about 8 per cent Italian, the balance a scattering
of Bohemian, Lithuanian, Russian and other na-
tionalities. There is very little Jewish trade in
that section and practically no Scandinavian.
On the other hand, the track' in the near north-
western section along Division street is practi-
cally all Jewish with a scattering of Slavs. On
the west side along North avenue there is a
large percentage of Scandinavian people, includ-
ing Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, with some
Germans, and the balance Americans. The
north side has a more or less transient trade of
^Americans, Jewish and Germans.
Going from the north side to the south, we
find on the southwest side practically a solid
Bohemian section, with some Polish trade.
Around 4300 south, the trade runs about 40 per
cent Poles and an even amount Irish, with some
Slavs, Lithuanians and a few Bohemians. Go-
ing farther south around Sixty-third street the
r
HIS is the first of two articles making
a general survey of the sections of Chi-
cago which have a predominance of for-
eign-born among their population.
The in-
formation in these articles is exceedingly
interesting as this type of customer is an
important factor in the retail music trade,
especially in the industrial sections of the
country.
His buying methods show pro-
nounced and sharp differences from those
which prevail among the native-born trade.
The articles are based on information gath-
ered at the source and are completely au-
thoritative.—EDITOR.
Irish-American is found with some Poles and
Italians. South Chicago is made up of a mix-
ture of Poles, Slavs, Hungarians, Irish and
Americans while on the southeast side the
majority are Americans. Of course, a good per-
centage of Americans are scattered throughout
these sections as well as many other na-
tionalities not mentioned.
Interviews with the various dealers in these
sections of the city who are doing largely a
foreign-trade business will be given by The
Review in a series of articles, giving some inter-
esting first-hand information about the various
foreign types and how the merchants conduct
their business in dealing with them.
Perhaps the most interesting and largest sec-
tion is the Milwaukee avenue district on the
northwest side, which, as stated previously, is
largely Polish, with a mixture of Italian, Bohe-
mian, Lithuanian, Russian, Slavish and other
foreigners.
Reichardt's Experience
Among the oldest and most successful mer-
chants in this district is the Reichardt Piano
Co., located at 1311 Milwaukee avenue. During
an interview with C. M. Reichardt, head of the
company, he had the following to say regarding
its business:
"The bulk of our business is Polish, running
to about 80 per cent, with a large number of
Italians and a mixture of the other foreign
nationalities. The Sicilian is coming in, but we
have found him in most cases to be undesirable
and his credit has to be watched very carefully.
In a good many cases references and the usual
procedure of extending credit do not mean any-
thing, for they give each other as references and
are very unreliable. The better class of Italian
trade, though, is very good, as is the Polish
customer.
"Our trade demands good merchandise and
the better class of instruments, but not of the
lighter and smaller designs. The Slavs seem to
see value in something massive in size and ap-
pearance, but at the same time, quality in case
and veneers is looked for. This to them repre-
sents strength and durability. To meet the de-
mand we carry the Bush & Lane, E. P. Johnson
and Gulbransen lines.
"Of course, the foreign trade wants player-
pianos almost exclusively, and about 90 per cent
of our business is in that instrument; grand and
reproducing pianos might be listed as next, and
the straight piano, for which we have very few
calls, is hard to sell. The prices run, of course,
from the lower-priced instruments to over the
thousand-dollar mark, but the average sale is
around $600, with 10 per cent down payment and
thirty months to pay.
"This type of customer is a slow buyer and
he has to be sold and given good value for his
money. While there is a great deal of transient
trade, from which we do business and get leads,
it is necessary to have some men on the outside
ringing door bells. It is the good door-bell
ringer that means a lot to our business. We
have found it to our advantage to get men who
speak the same tongue as the people they are
calling on, although I find there are some
dealers here who disagree with that. We do
some advertising in the foreign papers as well
as a large amount of billboard advertising, but
in order to keep up a volume of business it is
necessary to go out and dig for it. We have
tried direct-by-mail publicity, and, while it does
some good, we get the best results by calling
on the prospects direct.
(Continued on paye 4)