PRODucts - Music & Sound Retailer

look at those products.”so what profit margin doesWilcher need to make a goodprofit? “We hear the number35 [percentage] points and 40points a lot,” he said. “i thinkthat’s a minimum of what youneed. We’re looking for—andhave been lucky enough tofind some products in our areawhere we can do a little higherthan that. We just added a newcomputer system which allowsus to analyze products and theprofit margins every day. thereason we need to do better than35 or 40 points is healthcare isour No. 1 expense right now.trying to maintain healthcarefor our employees and ourselvesis difficult. We’re looking at allsorts of alternatives to continueto grow.”to further focus on profitabilityissues, as well as otherconcerns affecting independentdealers, Wilcher is one of thetop dogs at Musicstoreowners.com (Mso), which now boasts108 members, including vendorsand suppliers. “i don’t know whatmy exact handle at Mso is, buti call it the ‘Vendor Guru.’ Whena vendor contacts Mso and asksto be approved, i do the researchand check out the issues we’reinterested in,” said Wilcher. “Factorswe look at include policinginternet sales, MAP pricing, andmaking sure the vendor actuallyserves independent storesas opposed to mass merchantsand online [concerns]. Mso tome has perhaps been the mostvaluable resource i’ve discoveredin the last couple of years. thesharing of ideas is important.‘What works for you?’ ‘Whatdoesn’t work?’ ‘i tried this promotion.’‘Have you tried this promotion?’i can’t even put a price onhow valuable this informationhas been to me. it’s helped merecapture some of my fire. A lotof things going on in the industrycan get you discouraged. Msohas been a nice bright light. ithink Mso will continue to growand i encourage any independentmusic store to go to theWeb site and join.”Wilcher plans to be at WinterNAMM this month searching forindependent-friendly companies.“i think of Winter NAMM as acan’t-miss event,” he said. “Weare constantly looking for newproducts lines where we canmake a fair profit.“this is perhaps the mostcritical time for the industrysince i became involved 34 yearsago,” he continued. “We will alsobe participating in many of the[NAMM University] seminars,which have become veryimportant to me. And i also planto get involved with iMRA andwill attend the joint meeting withMso.”Editor’s Note: All dealers areinvited to attend the IMRA/MSOmeeting, which will take place atthe Double Tree Suites ConventionCenter, Room Tuscany D,2085 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim,CA 92802. The event will takeplace from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. onThursday, Jan. 17.The Wright StuffBy Brian BerkJonathan Wright Watkins,president of Wright Music in PortWashington, N.Y., owns a storein a unique location that is bothgood and bad for business. First,the good. there is no competitionwithin several miles. therefore,accessories sales are tremendousto area residents who don’t wantto travel 10 miles. in addition,Watkins has a great strongholdon lessons and rentals. And hisshop is within walking distancefrom the long island Railroadtrain station. some customers arewilling to take the 45-minute trainride from Manhattan to patronizeWright Music. But with that,comes one negative. Port Washingtonis not a destination location.it’s a number of miles froma highway, which considering thesmall distance from the long islandsound to the Atlantic ocean,is really saying something.Wright Music has several waysto counteract that problem,however. For starters, its biggestbusiness is band and orchestrasales. According to Watkins,many B&o customers preferhis store over big box stores,many of which are located nearhighways on long island. “Bigboxes may not have the trainedprofessionals we have,” he said.“And they don’t have the selectionwe maintain.”Wright Music encompasses2,500 square feet upstairs anddownstairs combined. six peopleare employed there, including afull-time repair staff. the storeperforms repairs for 12 schooldistricts. it rents to individualsand parents, not schools themselves.“We sell a lot of sheet musicand our involvement in NYssMA(New York state schoolMusic Association) has been agreat income generator for us,”said Watkins. “We also have astrong professional clientele.We do business with membersof the New York Philharmonic,Metropolitan opera, Philadelphiaorchestra, and even Milwaukeebelieve it or not.“one of the biggest things forus is we are the Vandoren longisland showroom,” added Watkins.“so we carry every productit makes. We’re a place wherepeople come to try the instruments.that brings in a lot oftraffic for us. People need a place(see Indy on page 41)MUsic & soUNd RetAileR 2323233JN08_p_001-041.indd 2312/21/2007 8:47:53 AM