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REVIEW
THE
VOL. LXXXII. No. 23
Pablished Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc.; 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y., Jane 5, 1926
Single'^otrfel Id Cent*
$2.00 I'er Year
New York's Music Section Undergo-
ing Decentralization Process
Study of Retail Outlets for Musical Instruments and Musical Merchandise Shows a Total of 888 Retail
Music Stores in the Greater City of Which 334 Represent Retail Piano Outlets and 776 Talking
Machines — Growth of Local Shopping Centers Is Marked Process in Study
NE of the outstanding features of the
development of the retail music trade in
New York City during the past twenty-
five years is one that it has shared with every
other line of retail selling. For New York,
during that period, has undergone a great trans-
formation in its retail shopping habits, due
largely to the growth of its outlying sections
bringing about, as a natural consequence, a de-
centralization of its shopping district.
The Old Shopping Center
In the old days a manufacturers' line of
pianos could be adequately represented in New
York by placing it with a single dealer whose
store was probably in the old piano section that
centered around Union Square. This even held
true after the formation of Greater New York,
when Brooklyn and Queens became parts of the
city itself. People were accustomed then to
buy their purchases, that is, those of any mo-
ment, in the centralized shopping district which
ran from Fourteenth street to Twenty-third
street and from Fifth avenue and Broadway
west to Sixth avenue. It was natural that the
music trade of the city should center in that sec-
tion.
The Changing Condition
However, the formation of Greater New York
and the development of the borough system of
city organization soon modified this condition.
Local shopping centers came into existence that
during the past twenty years have experienced
a steady development in volume of trade, not
only in the products of daily need which peo-
ple contiguous to them had always purchased
there, but in purchases of larger moment which
had been previously bought in the central
shopping district. This development was steady
and rapid, until at the present time New York,
instead of being a homogeneous city so far as
retail purchasing is concerned, really consists
of a series of cities, each with a shopping dis-
trict of importance and each requiring repre-
sentation if the field is to be adequately cov-
ered.
Covering the Field
Music houses have taken various methods of
meeting these changed conditions. One manu-
facturer, who retails his own product, has de-
veloped a series of sub-agencies which cover9
every section of the city and which means that
O
practically every shopping center is adequately
covered by a dealer in close touch with the
population that does its buying there. Another
has developed a retail branch system with
branches so strategically located that all sec-
YORK, since the formation of the
greater city, has developed a, steady
tendency towards decentralization
in its
shopping habits. In fact, at the present
time, the city may best be compared to a
series of municipalities, each of them largely
local and centralized in its buying habits.
This has made it in general a necessity to
cover the city by a series of branch stores or
sub-agencies, a tendency which has been
marked of late in the music industries. This
article presents a number of interesting fig-
ures which should be of value
tions are reached. Both of them have had
striking success and have shown that the
multiple store is the only method of making
New York a music market that is intensively
worked.
Proving Multiple Coverage
A concrete example of this was recently given
by another music house. This firm had de-
veloped a system of retail branches throughout
the metropolitan district and later, for some
reason which is not germane to this article,
discontinued them. At the present moment it
is engaged in re-establishing them, as it has
evidently found it impossible to cover the city
thoroughly from a central warerooms.
The one exception to this rule is in the music
house which sells a single name piano and that
a high grade. Here the comparatively limited
market, and the reputation of the instrument,
is sufficient to more than overcome the handi-
caps entailed in lack of sectional representation.
But for- the house which handles lines that
appeal to all types of purchasers the multiple
system seems a necessity, either through its
own branches or a system of sub-agencies.
Increasing Retail Outlets
Naturally this decentralization of shopping
districts in New York has led to the develop-
ment of a large number of music stores which
has made the city one that has a lower popu-
lation per unit music store than practically any
other city in the country. Some time ago The
Review published the results of an investiga-
tion on this subject which showed that the ratio
in New York was one music store to each 6,821
of the population, New York ranking second
in the country and only being led by Cin-
cinnati, where the ratio was one music store to
each 5,280 of the population.
Music Stores in New York
An analysis of the music stores in New York
yields some interesting results. There are a
total of 888 music stores in the greater city,
of which 870 are independent and 17 chain
stores. Of these 776 handle talking machines,
760 independent stores and 16 chain stores.
Pianos are carried in 334 stores, 325 independent
and 9 chain stores. Sheet music is handled in
462 stores, of which 455 are independent and
11 chain stores.
Musical Merchandise as Side Line
One of the most interesting results of this
analysis was the number of stores primarily
handling other lines of merchandise which also
handle musical merchandise of some type or
description. T h e . investigation showed that
there were 2 book stores that handled records
and 6 that handled sheet music; 1 clothing
store that handled records, 1 talking machines
and 1, sheet music; 1 confectionary store that
handled pianos, 3, sheet music and 7, records;
1 dairy handling records and 1, sheet music; 1
delicatessen handling records and 1, sheet
music; 1 furnishing store handling records and
1, records; 29 furniture stores handling talking
machines, 13, pianos, 21, records, and 8, sheet
music; 1 gown and dress store handling records;
10 jewelry stores handling talking machines, 1,
pianos, 11, records, and 5 sheet music; 7
variety stores handling talking machines, 4,
pianos, 8 records, and 6, sheet music; 6 novelty
stores handling talking machines, 2, records and
2, sheet music; 20 sporting goods stores han-
dling talking machine, 15, records, and 7, sheet
music; 4 stationery stores handling talking
(Continued on page 9)