Distribution: Technology Rules

St. Louis Music’s Research and Development staff, 1987

To compete in a changing world, distributors such as St. Louis Music diversified into manufacturing.  The company established SLM Electronics to develop and manufacture Modular Power Circuits for guitars, Crate amplifiers, and Audio Dentron sound reinforcement equipment.

Many long-established wholesale distribution firms closed their doors in the 1970s and 1980s.

Manufacturers doing their own distribution and a new generation of wholesale companies quick to import less expensive Japanese acoustic guitars drove the competition.  Newer companies took advantage of cutting-edge technology to provide faster service to retailers who were lowering costs by streamlining operations.

Although a slump in acoustic guitar sales hurt, the inability of many large, established companies to change with the times was a deciding factor.  Those distributors who used WATS lines, UPS, fax machines and computers to increase productivity flourished. Those who did not went out of business.

By the end of the 1980s, Targ and Dinner, Buegeleisen & Jacobson, Chiasarini, David Wexler & Co. and L.D. Heater belonged to history.   The suvivors were the efficient few.