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Musical Merchandise
Published by The Music Trade Review, 383 Madison Avenue, New York
Tom Brown Music Co.
A Record of
Five Years of Progress
H. J. Wallace
BAND Instrument Beehive! That's the
descriptive title usually applied to the
Tom Brown Music Co.'s new store at
32 West Lake street, Chicago, for a band in-
strument beehive it really is. Practically every
prominent musician in the city buzzes around
in there at some time or other during the
season.
Tom Brown, famous saxophonist and leader
of the Six Brown Bros, of musical comedy fame,
is president of the company and the chief mag-
net, drawing the crowds to the store, for Torn
Brown is probably one of the most popular
musicians in musiciandom.
There are other drawing cards in this busy
Lake street music emporium, their names being
Howard Wallace, sales manager; William H.
Lyons, treasurer and boss of the office, and
A
Tom Brown
Dearborn street and in the heart of things
musical and theatrical, Practically all of the
music publishers have their headquarters in this
immediate vicinity, and eight prominent theatres
are within a stone's throw.
Service and goodwill have had much to do
with the success and popularity of the Tom
Brown firm. No effort has been spared to give
the customers what they want and in the man-
ner that they want it. "Send them out smiling,"
is the slogan and it has worked.
There is perhaps no one man in the musical
instrument business better known to dealers
throughout the country than Tom Brown.
During the long years that he has been playing
the finer class of theatres with his Six Brown
Brothers act, and later with his own band, he
has become acquainted with hundreds of people
Before the Tom Brown Music Co.
Howard Lyons, head of the retail department.
The wise ones in the Chicago musical instru-
ment fraternity threw up their hands in holy
horror back in 1921 when the news got around
that Tom Brown was going to open a band
instrument shop on Lake street. To-day they
have lived to see this hustling organization
grow from its modest start five years ago into
one of the model retail musical instrument
establishments in the country.
The new location is right by the corner of
of rather youthful appearance, Wallace has been
in this line for the past twenty years, about
eighteen of which were spent with Lyon &
Healy.
Wm. H. Lyons has made himself very popu-
lar with the Chicago musicians, as has also his
cousin Howard, who has charge of the retail
and counter end of the business.
Buescher band instruments and saxophones,
Selmer (Paris) wood-winds, Paramount banjos,
Leedy drums, are among the best-known lines
of musical merchandise handled by this firm,
and the popularity of these instruments in Chi-
cago and vicinity proves that the Tom Brown
Co. has not been asleep at the switch in han-
dling and putting them across in their territory.
The opening of new attractive headquarters
of the Tom Brown Music Co., 3234 West Lake
The Interior of One of Its Stores
in the musical instrument business. Tom Brown street, the other store of this firm, was held
is a distinct personality in the band instrument
May 22 with Swegel's Saxophone Sexette. en-
world and it has often been said that he, more tertaining large crowds.
than any other one man, has contributed to
The new home of the Tom Brown Music Co.
the popularity of the saxophone. His kindly, represents a modern musical merchandise store
democratic manner, with never a semblance of
in every respect, which is noted for its attrac-
the inflated cranium so prevalent among suc- tiveness as well as original design in display-
cessful performers, has endeared him to men in ing the merchandise. The main wareroom,
every walk of life.
forty by eighty feet, shows the various lines
Howard J. Wallace is one of the deans of the featured by the company in beautiful wall cases
band instrument business in Chicago. Although
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