Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Volume 99. Number 10
October, 1940
Established 1879. and published monthly by Henderson
Publications, Inc., at Radio City, 1270 Sixth Ave., New York,
U.S.A. 1 Year S2. Two Years S3. Carleton Chace, Executive
Editor. Also Publishers of Radio-Television Journal
"Parts" for wholesalers.
Only trade publication in the piano business.
Awarded five medals for "the best" in journalism.
MEDALS AWARDED THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A striking window display of the Thearle Music Co., San Diego, Cal.
in which Gulbransen pianos were featured
I
T is now sort of a dangerous "age"
for pianos, as constant talking
about the growth of the piano
business is creating the wrong
impression with so termed "merchan-
disers." The gradual step-up in piano
distribution by adding dealers here and
there is constructive work, but when
the big boys smash into a business
with gigantic retail power, it means
that if the latter are successful, that
the present men are not doing the job;
or if they are doing it, then business
will be lost and transferred to the
giants, who capitalize upon the piano
"public acceptance" by transferring
sales from dealers to them.
F the piano market can stand it, is
one thing; if piano sales are to
be drained off from dealers to
new comers, then we have a
problem. On one hand, it is a labora-
tory experiment to see if our present
trade is doing the retail work prop-
erly, and if our dealers forge ahead re-
gardless of new retail outlets, and there
is bound to be hundreds (one group has
550 stores in the larger cities, and 7
piano depts. have just been opened at
Chicago in its 7 stores; another group
has 1,030 stores in intermediate cities,
in which most stores could "carry"
pianos) then it will prove the oft-re-
peated remarks of T H E REVIEW, that
I