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Published by The Music Trade Review, 420 Lexington Avenue, New York
Band Instrument Store and
Band Instrument School
By A. H. MEYERS
MUSIC dealer who believes that a
store should be something more than
a stock and display room is Norbert
Beihoff of the Norbert J. Beihoff Music
Co., at 811 Forty-seventh street, Milwaukee, Wis.
Mr. Beihoff's store is one of the outstand-
ing music stores in Milwaukee, located in
an outlying business district in the north-
west portion of the city, and it forms a
center, not only as a purchasing point, but
a musical center, where persons interested
in band instruments, in sheet music and
orchestrations, in learning how to play, or
in being placed in a position, come to buy
or get instruction or advice.
The head of the establishment, Norbert
Beihoff, has a singular background of mer-
chandising and actual technical and musical
experience, which has proved invaluable to
him in setting up his successful music store.
He is a graduate of the University of Wis-
consin, holding the degree, Bachelor of
Music. His merchandising experience con-
sists of some years of selling with the
Flanner-Hafsoos Music House, Inc., and
with the Luebtow Music Co., now the
Luebtow-Roussellot Music Co., where he
acted as department manager for two
years.
The Beihoff store is devoted entirely to
band and orchestra instruments, and the
school conducted in connection with the
store gives instruction on all wind, reed
and fretted instruments. The school was
established with the store with a full-time
staff of fourteen teachers, and is an im-
portant factor in the work of band organ-
izing in which the store has been extremely
successful. The location of the store is one
of primary interest because it was care-
fully chosen with an eye to present busi-
ness and to expansion in the near future.
"I looked over all neighborhoods of Milwau-
kee carefully before making the final decision
to settle here. I wanted a location in a neigh-
A
borhood where the residents would be of a type
interested in music, and able to buy musical
instruments.
"Some parts of the city offered good loca-
tions for cheaper business, while others of-
Norbert
Beihoff
fered neighborhoods with good purchasing
power, but with small families, few children,
and little interest in orchestra or band music.
"Schools were another important factor in
the selection of a location. In a large place,
such as Milwaukee, and especially with our
situation, with considerable buying and interest
concentrated in neighborhood districts, a dis-
trict having a number of schools would natural-
ly offer a better opportunity than one with
few schools.
"The neighborhood in which we located
has the largest high school in Milwaukee,
and is in the neighborhood of parochial
and public schools attended by children
whose parents can afford to buy. The dis-
trict is growing rapidly and offers room
for expansion. In addition our location
has excellent transportation facilities."
The very qualities of the neighborhood
developed certain needs in the line of serv-
ice. One of these was instruction facilities.
The idea generally was to make the store
a musical service station to its entire neigh-
borhood, and the need of an instruction and
organization department was paramount, in
addition to the selling force.
In giving its service the store finds it
necessary to remain open evenings, for it
is then that a few boys who have been
studying the saxophone, for instance, and
who have formed a quartet, will come in
to get some music.
Here the advisory service again comes
into play, for the selling staff, augmented
during the evening hours by members of
the teaching staff, is able to offer assis-
tance in suggesting orchestrations suited
to the degree of advancement in their
knowledge of an instrument."
"This question of service is one of the
strongest sales arguments in organizing a
band," said Mr. Beihoff. "Band directing
and organizing are necessary, if a store is
to sell instruments in a good volume.
"I believe that a lot of the time band work
in a store just drifts along, and the dealer must
be alert to have his organization interested in
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