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Allegro Pianos<br />
Opens high-end showroom<br />
PAGE 16<br />
> Jordan Kitt’s <strong>Music</strong><br />
Liquidates HQ, prepares to move<br />
PAGE 18<br />
> Gist Piano Center<br />
Hosts physicians’ charity concert<br />
PAGE 19<br />
> Noble Art Pianos<br />
Donates instrument for art exhibit<br />
PAGE 20<br />
KURT SAPHIR PIANOS I BY JENNY DOMINE<br />
DESTINATION BUILDER<br />
There was a time when<br />
customers walked<br />
into Kurt Saphir<br />
Pianos in Wilmette,<br />
Ill., quoting the slogan<br />
they’d heard on the radio,<br />
“If it sounds good to the ear, it<br />
came from Saphir.”<br />
Today, owner Dennis<br />
Saphir no longer uses radio<br />
spots, TV promos or newspaper<br />
ads to promote his business.<br />
And even with virtually<br />
no prospects wandering in<br />
from the street, Saphir is still<br />
able to maintain a steady business<br />
by marketing his company’s<br />
name and reputation in<br />
high-end piano retail.<br />
“I hear customers say, ‘Oh<br />
yeah, my neighbor has something<br />
like this,’ or ‘My mother<br />
bought a piano from you,’”<br />
Saphir said.<br />
THE VALUE OF A NAME<br />
While Saphir said he<br />
enjoyed the economic<br />
boom of the 1990s, he had the<br />
foresight to shift his family’s<br />
business from a five-store,<br />
high-volume piano dealership<br />
to a more niched, high-end<br />
business model.<br />
“We’ve made huge manufacturer<br />
changes,” Saphir said. “It<br />
was pretty obvious this whole<br />
economic situation that we<br />
enjoyed during the dot-com era<br />
wasn’t going to last forever.”<br />
Dennis<br />
Saphir<br />
Kurt Saphir<br />
Pianos<br />
markets its<br />
reputation in<br />
the high-end<br />
piano market<br />
He reshaped the main store<br />
into a destination location and<br />
closed the dealership’s last<br />
auxiliary store in 2005.<br />
Without a large marketing<br />
budget, Saphir said customers<br />
find his business through its<br />
Web site or a manufacturer<br />
reference. Kurt Saphir Pianos<br />
carries exclusive brands,<br />
including Bechstein, Blüthner,<br />
Bösendorfer, Charles Walter,<br />
WM Knabe, Kohler &<br />
Campbell, Mason & Hamlin<br />
and Schimmel.<br />
In addition to its unique<br />
products, Kurt Saphir Pianos<br />
has a long history going back<br />
to the 1800s in Vienna. The<br />
name provides a marketable<br />
brand that most referred cus-<br />
Inside RETAIL<br />
tomers already recognize.<br />
“We tend to sell the name<br />
of our company and what we<br />
stand for, in additions to our<br />
products,” Saphir said.<br />
Location is another important<br />
key to Saphir’s success in<br />
the high-end piano market.<br />
Chicago’s North Shore region<br />
is a wealthy suburb that supports<br />
music and arts education.<br />
Saphir has also built strong<br />
relationships with local teachers<br />
who are part of his store’s<br />
teacher referral network.<br />
“We’ll screen the customer<br />
JUNE 2010 I MUSIC INC. I 13