Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
25, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
5
How Fred Kraft, Inc., Sells Rolls
A New York Retail Firm Which Has Built Up a Large and Steadily G r o w i n g Demand for Music Rolls
Through Careful Cultivation of the Drop-in Customer and Which Today Has Customers
in All Parts of the World Who Steadily Buy Their Music Rolls From This Store
HE problem of making a retail music
store pay in an arcade location of a large
city by sifting customers from a steady stream
of passersby is one that is frequently difficult
of solution, but which can be met satisfactorily
by proper application on the part of such a
concern's managers. It is generally found that
those arcade stores, which are most successful,
are not relying wholly on their drop-in cus-
tomers for their business, but are equipped with
a definite method of holding the patronage once
obtained.
Drop-in customers are, however, the founda-
tion of such a business, and their cultivation on
the part of the store proprietors is a study by
itself. Insurance companies teach us the immu-
tability of the law of averages in any computa-
tion of large numbers, and an arcade merchant
is safe in concluding that for every thousand
persons passing his store each day a definite
number are certain to drop in and buy.
There is perhaps no other music store by
which more persons pass daily than that of
Fred Kraft, Inc., situated in the west corridor
of Grand Central Terminal, New York City.
The business has been established here for over
ten years, and handles U. S. music rolls, Bruns-
wick phonograph records, sheet music, as well
as a line of sporting goods and toys. Harry L.
Rollins and August M. Stumpf took over the
business from the original owner about four
years ago, and have gained a wide reputation as
having one of the livest retail businesses in
music rolls in the country.
65,000 People Daily
When one considers that 65,000 people (ac-
cording to the Terminal's official count) pass
through the West corridor of Grand Central
Station every day, it would seem a compar-
atively easy matter to lure a few hundred per-
sons into such a store as the Fred Kraft con-
cern. On the other hand, considering that 90
per cent of the 65,000 pass by on half a dog-
trot, anxious to make a north-bound train be-
fore the gates close, the matter of turning peo-
ple's thoughts to music and making them buy
presents more of a difficulty.
By experiment, the proprietors of Fred Kraft,
Inc., have learned that special window decora-
tion in their particular location is of little avail
in halting any of the "parade" in front of their
store. They have found, however, that people
will stop and listen to a player-piano, and that
persons interested in music rolls, records and
sheet music can be attracted into the store by
constantly playing this instrument. Due to the
peculiar acoustics of the tile-lined corridor, the
Kraft piano, situated just inside the doorway, is
audible at fifty or one hundred yards distance
from the store.
"Where the Piano Plays"
Due to the success they have had with the
piano, which is electrically operated, as a means
of bringing patrons to the store, the proprietors
have adopted "Where the piano plays" as their
slogan. In the strict sense of the word, Rollins
& Stumpf do no advertising but their store is
known to everybody within earshot. Not a
small portion of their music roll and record
trade comes to them from the three large ho-
tels, which have entrances in the upper level of
the Terminal. Bell-boys, head porters and mes-
sengers in the employ of the hotels, often spend
an odd moment listening to a lively fox-trot
being played by the Kraft player, and when a
permanent or transient guest makes a request
for some new rolls or records the hotel boys
know where to get them.
T
Fred Kraft, Inc., is open from 9 a. m. to
9 p. m. every day, except Sunday. It has been
found that Saturday is generally the best day
for the music roll end of their business, al-
though there are freak days through the week,
which cannot be exactly accounted for. Fre-
quently a big roll and record business is done
on Monday evenings, the reason being probably
that people who have been visiting over the
week-end contemplate a quiet evening at home,
and the Kraft player-piano suggests some new
tune with which they can enliven their sitting-
room.
The type of music rolls with the best draw-
ing power are the hits from the musical shows,
according to Mr. Rollins. Recognition of this
fact has done a lot to making Saturday the best
day for the Kraft store, as many people pass-
ing through the corridor after attending a mat-
inee are reminded of a musical number in the
show they have just seen and are attracted in
to buy it, often without hearing the complete
playing of the roll. The same thing works on
Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, also pop-
ular matinee days, but on these occasions the
purchasers are generally women.
Increasing the Unit Sale
It has paid Mr. Rollins and his partner to
keep posted on the current hits on Broadway,
because persons coming into the store to buy
one show number are easily persuaded to buy
other good selections from the same show. In
the same way it is a cue for the proprietors or
any of their sales force to ask the question:
"Do you have a phonograph? We have that
same selection played on a Brunswick record with
a clever arrangement by Isham Jones or Ray
Miller" (as the case may be). Nobody with
money to spend and a taste for music is ever
allowed to leave the store without being shown
some other musical merchandise, which is liable
to strike his fancy. This does not mean that
the customer is pestered, as the salesmen are
taught to make their suggestions in such a man-
ner that the effect on the buyer works uncon-
sciously.
Of the song-hits in recent years, no greater
success in music roll merchandising has been
experienced by Fred Kraft, Inc., than with "Bam-
balina" and "Wildflower" from the musical show
of the latter name. Mr. Stumpf cited some in-
teresting facts in connection with "Bambalina"
and his relations with Jack Bliss, vice-president
of the United States Music Co., and Eastern
district manager. He had been calling Mr.
I'liss on the 'phone daily for several weeks after
the show opened in New York to ask when the
first shipment of "Bambalina" would be ready.
His anxiety was caused by the many calls for
the number received by former customers at
the store.
Quick Turn-over
Finally Mr. Bliss called up about noon to say
that the first lot of the "cut" had been re-
ceived, just 200 for his entire district, but that
more would arrive the next day. Mr. Stumpf
wanted fifty rolls of the lot at once, but could
only succeed in getting twenty as his share, as
Mr. Bliss had to consider his other dealers. The
rolls came up and two were sold to customers
standing in the store, when the song was first
played on the piano. The other eighteen went
before the store closed that night.
The following day twenty-five rolls of "Bam-
balina" and ten or fifteen of "Wildflower" were
received and sold, and the total ran up to about
300 rolls in the first two weeks for just these
two numbers. The Kraft store had similar ex-
periences in handling "Limehouse Blues," "Yes,
We Have No Bananas," and numerous others
last year, the numbers selling consistently over
a period of six months, after the initial boom
had quieted down. Very recently the number
"Oh Katharina" has been a best seller in the
Kraft store.
Types of Customers
Not less interesting than the stock handled
are the types of persons served by Mr. Rollins
and his associate. Much, but not too much, has
been written of the manner in which celebrities
can walk about in metropolitan thoroughfares
mingling with the crowd without revealing their
station in life. The discovery of the famed
one's identity is almost sure to be accompanied
by a shock on the part of the observer with a
certain change of attitude, though the reason
why celebrities are not expected to occasionally
be "men on the street" is yet to be made clear.
A shock of this order was in store for Mr.
Rollins and Mr. Stumpf not so very long ago,
when two snappily dressed young ladies strolled
into the establishment and asked to hear a late
fox-trot on the player-piano. The salesman fol-
lowed up with another song, and still another
until he had sold them twelve music rolls, the
only twelve he had demonstrated. One of the
girls explained that that would be about all they
could carry. While the package was being
wrapped up, the other girl was attracted to a
doll and an electrical toy (the store also handles
a line of novelties) and handed the clerk a
twenty and a ten dollar bill to cover the charge.
At this point in any sale Mr. Rollins gen-
erally steps up to fill out a sales receipt and
obtains in practically every case the buyer's
name and address. In this instance, he sug-
gested that the goods be delivered by special
messenger as it made a good-sized armful for
both ladies. "Don't bother doing that," said the
older girl, "our chauffeur is waiting outside and
we don't have far to walk. You said you wanted
our names; I am Muriel and this is my sister
Consuelo Vanderbilt," and out they walked with
their bundles.
Getting the Names
The importance of getting the customers'
names in securing future business in music rolls
has long been realized by the proprietors of
Fred Kraft, Inc. A valuable address book, list-
ing a large number of music roll enthusiasts,
has been compiled by them for their own pur-
poses, and each person in the book receives the
monthly roll lists of new releases. It is sur-
prising to note that a number of the persons in
Mr. Rollins' address book are residents of for-
eign countries, and that these people buy rolls
regularly in quantity lots from the little arcade
store in Grand Central Terminal.
Far-off Customers
One of the most important persons on the list,
from the standpoint of doing the most buying,
has been a politician from Memphis, Tenn., who
stays at the Commodore Hotel, next to Grand
Central Station, a few weeks each season. His
first purchase was that of thirty music rolls,
which were mailed to his home. By circulariz-
ing him every month, he has been influenced to
buy eight or ten music rolls out of each group
of new releases, and recently, due to his pur-
chase of a small hotel having a player-piano, he
has requested double orders for all the hits. It
cannot be concluded that it is easy to make a
music store pay in a metropolitan arcade, but
Mr. Rollins and Mr. Stumpf are certainly en-
titled to every bit of the success they have ex-
perienced.