To List from Sy Zabrocki =09 Some are reporting slow times in the piano service business. We can = report very slow piano sales also. Actually the slowest for us in 19 = years. We operate a small store attached to our shop and home. This very day while driving I heard a report on national news that = caused me to highlight the slow piano sales issue. The report said there = has been a 3=BD% increase in demand for high ticket manufactured items. = High ticket goods were described as manufactured items intended to last = for 3 years or more. Pianos would qualify, yet it's doubtful there has = been an increase in demand for pianos. If true, this report indicated people are still spending money. So what = are they purchasing? They are purchasing what in their minds has the = "highest priorty." They are buying big screen TV's, computers, vehicles, = hot tubs, travel, etc. Do they run around looking for used TV's etc.? = No, they buy new. Even used pianos are selling slower and it's harder to get a good price. = Everyone is looking for a cheap used piano. A couple times customers = were wailing away how they just couldn't afford more then $500. Okay, so = I experiment. I carefully manipulate the conversation around to = computers. Sure enough, they have one. I believe computers have taken the biggest on piano sales. It's said = that 40 to 50% of families have computers. It's discretionary money and = time being diverted from music. We all talked about this in a symposium = at the PTG convention at Kansas City in 1994. Even the sale of hot tubs = was stated as using up family funds. I thought this was maybe far = fetched until I got home. Look in the yellow pages. There are a lot more = hot tub dealers than piano dealers. I know a tub dealer who sold 11 in = one month. I would be thrilled to sell even half that many pianos.=20 I believe priorty is key word. Family time is being wasted on vidoes, = computer games and sports. Childlren are involved in baseball, soccer, = football, dance classes. The parents are running them all over town. One = piano teacher complains that people will cancel a piano lesson because = of some game because it apparently has more priorty.=20 Yes some teachers are still busy and have a waiting list. Yet in this = area I vaguely remember a list of 85 teachers. Now the list contains 69. = 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.=20 Enough said. Piano factory reps don't like us to talk negative like = this.=20 Sy Zabrocki
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC