Just heard that East Coast Piano (aka Bach to Rock) is having liquidation sales and are closing their doors. They've got two locations in New Jersey (Edison and Fairfield... and I think they operate out of Nanuet Mall in NY too).

They deal with Bechstein, Sauter, Charles Walter, Schulze Pollmann, Kawai, Sohmer, Baldwin, Knabe, Falcone, and others.

http://www.eastcoastpiano.com

They said they've got 19 new Walters left in stock, all going for $5995.

Old news.

Nope... They're actually shutting down now. Kevin Walter was just notified and he's trying to find another Charles Walter dealer in NJ, since they were the only ones.

Sad to see reputable dealers go. If you can't make it in an area as big and artistic as the greater New York Metro, what happens to a dealer in mid-sized towns in the Carolina's or Ohio? The 3 pianos I've owned since college have all come from small family owned dealers in Buffalo NY and suburban Detroit. For me, I was always Blessed to find dealers that made buying my instruments much more enjoyable than purchasing cars which I hate!

Hi everyone. I am proud to announce that I will be representing the Charles R. Walter line in NJ. I believe they are some of the best pianos available today period. With the ever increasing Euro and decreasing Dollar most of the European high-end pianos have become too expensive. Charles Walter remains as one of the true hand built pianos at the highest quality levels at an affordable price. Sorry to sound like an advertisement, but I thought everyone would like to know where to find the Charles R. Walter pianos in NJ. Thank you for your time.

Wishing you great success with Walter pianos.
They are great people to deal with.

Enrico Aquino, the same man who owned East Coast piano, has now opened under another name?

Why go through all that trouble Rick?

How interesting. "Retiring" and then starting again.

I'm pretty sure it's the "Jr." that's opening the new store. It's the "Sr." that's retiring. They both have the same first name.

Getting away from East Coast Piano's (aka Bach to Rock) 'Unsatisfactory' rating from the BBB by opening under a new name sure doesn't hurt. You can check them out at www.bbb.org.

How confident would you feel buying from them now that they're liquidating?

Its "Jr" and the apple doesnt fall far from the tree. Nothing like a little "Liquidation Sale" to boost the summer sales , eh Rick? Welcome Bach..

Enrico Aquino Jr. is listed as the manager on the East Coast Piano website.

Ooh, I see that he's well known around these parts!

How do you people sleep at night? I am not my father. I have opened my own piano store after Baldwin created a real financial problem for my father and many other baldwin dealers. It basically forced him out of business. This is MY STORE, please do not attack me. I am a good person and only try my best to find the best pianos for my customers. I am a concert pianist and music educator. I don't know why everyone has spread horrible rumors of my fathers store. He has numerous thank you letters from many many customers. He had always bent over backwards to help and service pianos that many dealers would have walked away from. He sold thousands of pianos and yes when you sell this many pianos you will have some people you can never satisfy (unfortunately). East Coast Piano had a better satisfaction rating than Geico (97%).

I am asking that any slander stop now. I am running my business with my customers in mind and will be a competitor to all of you who love to frequent these chat rooms and tell people not to buy from him or buy from him because I know him etc. etc. etc....

Anyone who visits my store will get 1st class treatment and the best pianos available at every price point. My service department is excellent and I will stand behind every piano I sell. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a genuine, honest man of integrity. I have a family, 2 boys, and I want to lead by example. I believe in doing what is right and following the Bible's teachings.

I will not stand to have my family or I attacked here on this forum.

I look forward to selling my products and service as the best available and will never put down a competitor. I wish that everyone in our industry could do the same.

Sincerely,
Rick Aquino Jr.

Rick -- Out of curiosity, how did Baldwin nearly drive your father out of business? Good luck with your business.

Rick - well said. Every son has the right to make his own way and do it without the history of his parent tracking his every move.

Based on your web site you do appear to be selling off your father's inventory so the link that people have made between the old and the new, is understandable.

Having re-read all of the posts in this thread again, I can't see where anyone has slandered you or your father. You are being over sensitive. If your father's business had an unsatisfactory rating from BBB then that is fact and mentioning it is not slander. Your challenge is to avoid the same and I for one wish you well with that.

Good luck with your new business.

Hey Rick,

Is there any way I could receive my new piano's free tuning now?

mahermusic

Welcome to the forum, Rick!

Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but in retrospect it might have been better to announce your new business in a brand new thread rather than on an old thread devoted to the closing of your dad's business, which inevitably created a connection between the two in many people's minds.

I want to wish you the best of luck with your store. In today's economy, one has to be fearless to start ANY small business, and the piano business appears to be especially vulnerable to recession. Sounds to me like you have the right attitude and set of goals, and with any luck you should prosper.

What other lines will you be representing besides Walter, if you don't mind my asking?

[edited to fix stupid typo ]

I noticed today that a business called ABC pianos in Delaware is closing. They seem to have been a Baldwin dealer as well. Does anyone know what is going on?

Good luck with your new business, Rick. I know from experience that the retail business (non-piano in my cvase) is a tough one to prosper in. May you be one of the exceptions that make the rule, as the saying goes.

I, too am curious as to what Baldwin did to harm dealers. Would it be the drastic reduction of their retails last year? I can see that it would hurt tremendously if one had purchased a large quantity of Baldwin pianos just before the drastic price reductions went into effect. An L1, for example, went from a list of $52k to $40k basically overnight. That is a very drastic reduction. If one had paid the old higher wholesale, only to see the prices reduced drastically and the value of his inventory slashed overnight, I could understand him being unhappy with Baldwin. With the typical 30% discount, one would now be forced to sell the inventory at very near what he paid for it. The losses could be staggering.

I would be just as unhappy if I were a customer who had bought a piano before the price reductions, only to see the value of my purchase drop by 25% overnight. A manufacturer who does this--whatever the product--is going to have trouble getting customers, which means that the actual retailers will suffer.

Rick, will you be representing the J. Straus line as well?

For all the skeptical people here, Rick runs his own store and he is a first class individual.
There are few dealers here who in the past had some unethical business incidents and yet they come here and judge somebody else...

Yeah, that gripes me too.

Sometimes it even takes me like 4 years or so to think of something to say...

In case no one noticed, this is a four year old thread, with one recent comment. . . .I find this quite strange.