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THE
VOL. 85. No. 19
REVIEW
Published Weekly. Federated Business Publications, Inc., 420 Lexington A?e., New York, N. Y., Nov. 5,1927
t^SHS
&S M
Piano Revival Here
Say Manufacturers to Review
Survey Covering Sixty Factories in All Sections of Trade Strikes Strong
Note of Optimism for Remainder of Year — Majority State Fall Demand Opened
on Equal or Better Basis Than the Last Year — Public's Interest Is Reviving
W
HAT about the piano business of the
country? Is it experiencing a business
comeback this Fall that is producing a
sales volume comparable with that of the Fall
of 1926? Are the factories that are reported
to be working full time and overtime to meet
the current demand of dealers exceptions to
the rule or do they reflect the general situa-
tion? These are questions that are distinctly
pertinent, and The Review has been conducting
an extensive survey among leading manufac-
turers of the country with a view to presenting
an accurate and timely report on the conditions
in the trade, particularly after September 1.
Reports from the various retail centers ap-
pearing j n The Review recently afford an ex-
cellent idea of how the dealers are finding sales,
but it is conceded that it is from the orders
received by the factories that we can best
judge as to the actual turnover being experi-
enced by the retailers this Fall, and particularly
their confidence in the future as evidenced by
the orders placed for future delivery. The
manufacturers for the most part have been
very frank in outlining the situation accurately
as they see it and as it affects their interests.
In the majority of cases the Fall business
opened up in a manner that is comparable with
last year and perhaps a little better, and even
where this year's figures do not reach last year's
mark there is still evidence of a spirit of con-
fidence that when January 1 rolls around the
year 1927, or at least the last third of it, will
prove far from disappointing.
One of the most comprehensive reports
comes from Charles, M. Stieff, Inc., of Balti-
more, and Frederick P. Stieff, vice-president
of the company, said: "I have been rather
hesitant in expressing my views on the outlook
at present. I am not much of a clairvoyant
and I have known disastrous Novembers and
disastrous Decembers, consequently I will not
anticipate but merely tell you our present sit-
uation.
"We have made more pianos this year than
we have ever made in the history of the firm.
This is due to the fact that we are now making
Shaw grands, Bennett-Bretz grands, players
and uprights, Davies & Sons grands, players
and uprights in our own factories. We are at
present one hundred and thirty-five orders be-
hind and regretting the eight Saturday morn-
ings which we closed down during the Summer
/k PPROXIMATELY sixty manufacturers,
-*X representing every section and branch
of the piano industry, have contributed to
the symposium of opinion on the outlook
for the remainder of 1927, which appears
on this page of the Review. Their state-
ments show a radical change in viewpoint
and that for the better, indicating, as they
do, a healthy revival in public interest in
the piano, together with a strong belief in
the continuance and the growth of this con-
dition.
months. This is the only time that our fac-
tory has been working other than full time
since the inventory was taken in January. At
present we are compelled to work overtime in
our varnish department.
"This September marks the anniversary of
the first year for a Victrola department in
Baltimore. Our piano business in Baltimore
is slightly behind last year, although the com-
bined departments makes this September the
largest in Baltimore in the history of the firm,
war time or otherwise. Our Boston branch is
doing extremely well. Our Chicago dealers,
Meyer & Weber, had passed last year's volume
of business at the time of the Tunney-Dempsey
fight, and the prospects for the remainder of
the year, according to them, are excellent.
"Our wholesale business so far this year
has increased approximately 100 per cent. Need-
less to say, this is strictly pianos. Our branch
at Wilmington, N. C, shows a very substantial
3
increase in their piano department and coupled
with what they have done in seven months in
the Victrola department they show an increase
in net business of over-100 per cent. Business
has been particularly good in both Portland,
Ore., and Los Angeles, Cal. Harrisburg, Lynch-
burg, Richmond and Pittsburgh have not done
well so far this year, but there is a marked
improvement indicated in all of them at the
present moment.
"If business continues as it is at present we
will finish a very successful year, but it is very
problematical as to whether it will for we have
counted our chickens before they were hatched
on one or t,wo occasions and our disappoint-
ment has been keen. At present our net busi-
ness is considerably ahead of last year, in spite
of the fact that we closed our Charlotte branch
last April and our Hagerstown branch last
March, preferring to work this territory through
dealer representation."
From Boston comes the report, "We seem
to be experiencing the usual Fall increase in
activity. New England seems to be picking
up unusually well. Of course the demand for
grands is steadily growing, but there is still
a considerable market for the uprights. On the
whole, we are looking for a very good business
for the balance of the year."
A manufacturer in upper New York State
writes: "Since the first of September the de-
mand for grands has been very gratifying and
we have received more orders for grands since
that date for immediate shipment than a year
ago at this time. In straight uprights the de-
mand has been about the same as last year,
but in players it has fallen off, which gives us
the impression that possibly players are on the
wane everywhere."
A manufacturer in the East who follows the
popular practice of indicating business increases
or recessions by means of index numbers re-
ports that the index for 1927 is 98 as compared
with US for 1926, which indicates a dronotng
off of some 14.7 per cent.
A prominent mid-West manufacturer says:
(Continued on page 4)