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Out of curiosity, would a change of location of a piano store effect sales? I live in New England and for years, I've dealt with a famous Steinway dealer in Boston in the downtown area in a historic building. Recently, I was told that it was moving to another location/building in the same neighborhood, but instead of having this historic, beautiful beautiful with an antique elevator to take you to the piano display floor, the new location is only 1 floor. Would that have any effects at all? I mean, look at the famous Steinway Hall in NYC. I was glad to have visited when it was still in it's original location. Now, where is it relocated to in Manhattan? How can it match the mystique of the original building?
Byron
Steinway Festival Piano Santos Rosewood Model A

Some people like contemporary furniture and others prefer more traditional or even antique furnishings. I'm guessing haha you don't prefer contemporary. For me, both styles can be exciting, and I am excited about visiting the new Manhattan Steinway store. I've been to the 57th store many times, and I can see how someone who was never there might feel they missed an opportunity to see history.

My understanding is that Steinerts (the Boston Steinway dealership) will eventually return to the original first floor salesroom, but, yes, the "extra space" (piano prep, inventory) will probably be located elsewhere. That's Boston real estate these days (the entire building is undergoing massive renovation).

Well.... what I hear often from accomplished pianists trying out restored Steinway's, Mason and Hamlin's or larger Yamaha grands at my small store is that they enjoy the experience as opposed to the large elaborate showrooms as they get a truer sense of the sonority of the piano as to how the piano is gong to sound in their home.

We were in Boston last summer, and we passed Steinerts a number of times. It was a cool looking site. I don't know the history--I suspect it's pricey real estate--but would assume that the family owns the location given the age of the enterprise, but who knows. If they do own it, selling and relocating might be worthwhile, and if they rent it, then there are probably less expensive digs they could move to.

Ok, I just checked their website, and it sounds like they've been in that location since 1896 when it was built!

Anyway, I don't know that an arbitrary location change would affect business too much. It would depend on a lot of factors. I doubt someone would say that they simply wouldn't buy because of one type of building over another.

btw, I think I've mentioned this before, but I was impressed with the number of piano stores that I saw in the Boston metro area. Usually we stay in the city, but summer before last we made a last-minute trip up there, and were sorta forced to stay in the suburbs, which actually ended up being pretty nice. Found a nice new area (Natick) and enjoyed hanging out there some too. But, driving around the suburbs I was surprised how many piano stores I noticed. Many more than in my area.

Greetings, while you are here, would you mind telling the backstory of Steven Tyler's visit ?

"Out of curiosity, would a change of location of a piano store effect sales?"

Czernylavion, Your question can be looked at from different perspectives. First of all if sales were strong enough to maintain the expense of the downtown store and remain reasonably profitable, the owners would sooner add a location than change location. Old historic buildings are very expensive to maintain, heat, etc. The annual cost of maintaining and operating the antique elevator alone could take the sale of a few pianos.

A first floor locations is always easier for retailers. Especially when moving large heavy merchandise like pianos. Load-in and load-out, customer parking, and easy sidewalk access can effect sales. In Philadelphia, there are restaurants and grocery stores that have gone out of business because of the constantly changing parking regulations. At this point we can only hope for the best and offer support when we are able.

One thing not mentioned in this thread is the fact that the basement concert hall at Steinert's is also being brought up to code for future use.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifesty...-heard/hmNEd74IQpIcqP35X0d9GP/story.html

Cool story, and interesting space! Many older music dealers have recital spaces in them (usually not underground, of course! Or so large). I hope they can successfully renovate this one.