Slow Piano Sales

[Susan Kline]

Sam, I imagine the general migration west is part of your problem in
Chicago. I've come across a lot of customers who left their old uprights
behind in the midwest, thinking them plentiful and easy to buy cheaply, just
to discover it was a lot harder than they expected to replace them in
California or Oregon. I think you're adapting very well to the changed
circumstances.

At 05:09 PM 6/1/97 -0400, Sam Grossner wrote:
>In a message dated 97-05-30 02:49:29 EDT, you write:
>
><< Music Trades Magazine printed a 100th Anniversary edition in 1990, from
>1890 to 1990. It reports the biggest year ever in piano sales was 1923. At
>that time the nation had only 100 million people. Now we have over 270
>million and piano sales are somewhere around 98,000 units. The organ business
>is about dead.
>
> Enough said. Piano factory reps don't like us to talk negative like this.
>  >>
>S'alright, Sy. I too have noticed a marked decrease in sales. So much so, I
>have stopped advertising and go word of mouth. Once a month, i get a call
>from someone who asks me if I have a free one. I have restored and sold
>pianos since I was 16, about 25 years now, and I finally sold about 8 of them
>to an out of town dealer on the west coast. This in 1995. The price was about
>what one was worth. I was glad to get rid of them. The reason simply put IMHO
>is that the market is flooded with shiny black ones for no money down and 0%
>interest. I found a silver lining. Since I stopped advertising and spending
>my time and money on them I netted a small profit in that department last
>year. People have found that sooner or later they can get a free one or next
>to free from an estate sale or friend. They don't know or don't care that I
>have taken the time to put them in shape. Instead, now i get the call to look
>at them after they have been acquired and am making more money restoring them
>than I ever did doing the work on spec and then trying to sell them. I got
>two such jobs this month. I am discovering more money in service than I had
>before. For years and years I would just hang out in the shop, content to
>play music and sell them, but the overhead coupled with the trend you've
>mentioned has conspired to make that lifestyle obsolete. The piano business
>is a very mature one, and not exactly a growth field. The key, I have found,
>is keeping the overhead in check-so slow times don't kill us. Incidentally, I
>have heard of new piano stores popping up in certain areas. Stores that are
>hiring technicians, tho I don't think we would want to work for someone else
>this far along in our careers. So they do continue to sell. I still keep a
>few around for the occassional buyer that finds their way to me. That way I
>more or less get my price and don't sweat the sale. I have found that I lose
>money when I have to rebuild and refinish them in order to sell. So I
>restrict my acquisitions to those that only need some sprucing up.  It is
>starting to pay off. People have asked me I feel threatened about electronic
>pianos. Not at all, I tell them. Just more choices. hopefully a stepping
>stone to the real thing.  When was the last time you heard a piano bragging
>it sounded like a synthesizer? The piano will never go out of style. Selling
>them tho, has definitely taken a back seat for me. Hope this has been good
>feedback for you. Incidentally, I would be interested to know what part of
>the country you are in.
>Best Regards, Sam Grossner. Chicago.
>
>
Susan Kline
P.O. Box 1651
Philomath, OR 97370
skline@proaxis.com

"By doing just a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely
overwhelm me."
			          -- Ashleigh Brilliant