Retail: Sales on a High Note

Small music dealer in upstate New York, 1920
Unlike large, full-line stores, many smaller merchants focused their inventory on popular talking machines and player pianos.

The success of department stores caught the attention of music retailers, who opened full-line stores stocked with everything musical. They were rewarded with eager customers.

Booming sales encouraged music teachers and band leaders to open hundreds of smaller music stores in towns across America. Articles in the trade press gave new dealers advice on accounting procedures, marketing tactics and sales techniques.

Some retailers still worried that the new Parcel Post system encouraged too much competition from mail order houses. Others were troubled by poorly written rental and installment contracts that sometimes led to lawsuits. But for most, there was little to dampen the effects of surging sales until the late 1920s.

Listening to the phonograph, c. 1910
The phonograph was a popular form of home entertainment both indoors and out.

Talking Machines...

Leading retailers installed listening booths with talking machines (also called phonographs and gramophones) so customers could hear the latest records. For dealers who wanted the popular and lucrative Edison and RCA franchises, comfortable and well-equipped booths were usually required by contract.

Talking machine sales grew dramatically. In 1915, Americans spent $15 million for phonographs and $11 million for records. Along with the player piano, the talking machine dominated the music industry during most of the period.