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
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