Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, SEPTEMBER, 1940
on developed into business. There was
no drop-in traffic in the prior location.
Boylston Co. piano sales growth of
100 per cent over '39 is probably the
biggest increase of any large dealer
so far this year.
S
AN FRANCISCO speaker states
that piano movers get $9 a day
and three men are required on
a truck. Don't know what type
of men are used for piano movers in
San Francisco, but where I come from,
Boston, a mover gets red in the face
when he asks for an assistant to help
him deliver a concert grand. Down
there also, stenographers deliver con-
soles during their luncheon hour as a
hobby.
W
INNER of cup for best
window display in towns
of 100,000 and under was
a new dealer at Hemp-
stead, New York. He has done well as
have a number of other new piano men
around the country. It sort of endorses
our comment on new blood among
dealers, and it wouldn't be surprising
with conditions continuing as they are
to see 600 new piano stores this year.
U
NUSUAL experience during
the Convention was intro-
ducing a Detroit dealer to
several piano manufacturers.
This dealer has sold 150 pianos so far
up to August 1st, but thinks he can get
back to his old pace of 1,000 pianos a
year; but his main trouble is buying
them. Piano business is good when a
dealer who discounts his bills has
trouble purchasing pianos.
N
EVER before have so many
dealers been interested in
retail advertising and the
crowd inspecting the retail
advertising exhibits was twice that of
last year. Courtesy of Steinway to
withdraw from future competition in
retail advertising as well as donating
a cup for future contestants in that
group is praiseworthy, as the quality
of Steinway advertising is so high that
no dealer could hope to either equal or
exceed it. What dealers were primarily
interested in was to see the type of
copy that actually delivers customers
into the store. It was appraised from
size of space, illustrated features,
special offers, frequency of appear-
ance, cost of insertion and cost of sales.
A
LWAYS pleased to talk with
Ray Fagan, mgr., Music
{ Dept., Sibley, Lindsay & Curr
• Co., Rochester, N. Y., for he
is imbued with the piano traditions of
old, the practical efficient selling poli-
cies of today and an enthusiasm for
the future. In carrying out the triangle
in conversation, Fagan talks in three
paragraphs:
O
NE on the convention: It was
a most inspiring convention;
the speeches better than
usual; the discussions more
educational. Piano displays showed a
tremendous advance over 1939—better
styles, better tone, better case finishes
•—proof that piano mfrs. are progress-
ive in their product styling. Thursday's
banquet a joy and an event to be re-
membered.
O
NE on the Sibley store ac-
tivity: June sales equalled
last December and business
was so good for July we
closed the books for the month on the
20th. August with its heat came along
just as well—our big day with 7 pianos.
Our September business will likewise
be big, for we will have a style show
featuring convention models, with
artists giving hourly concerts on the
Chickering concert grand and the new
Gulbransen Magnatone organ. Latter
is a swell idea for dealers all over the
U. S., with the other comments an
inspiration.