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First, Steinway Hall is a strong contributing factor in Steinway's sales in NY. It is like buying a piece of art from a museum as opposed to a commercial art gallery. Its loss will be felt.

Second, there are very few people who were aware of Samick's plans if they were to have acquired Steinway, and they aren't talking.

Simply because you made the converse generalization.

Having never met a Lutheran bachelor farmer, I trust my ears and fingers when evaluating a piano, rather than trusting the façade of architectural splendor. Steinway is a piano, not a "Hall."

What is the percentage of pianos sold at Steinway Hall NY in comparison to total sales world wide?

I believe that the image and aura of the 'mother church' in NY is not a significant sales influence to the majority of Steinway buyers. How about the "Halls" in Hamburg or London? Do Americans, or others on this side of the pond, hold them in the same awe as the NY version?

Have you ever been there or talked to those who have purchased there?

Just like shoppers who are turned off by shabby looking piano stores, many are influenced by the historical architecture and the aura of buying at Steinway hall.

Steve,

I have often visited Steinway Hall in New York, have a friend on the staff, and have selected three pianos from that showroom. I have many fond memories of my visits.

However, I don't equate it to the 'brand' that is Steinway. It is beautiful architecture, but I don't believe that sales will suffer because of a change in location or interior décor. We have no idea of how the new location will look. A surprise awaits us all.

If it becomes a new 'icon,' it may become an image for Steinway in the 21st. century, rather than harkening back to the 19th.

Have they moved out yet? I doubt they will.
It's not an unusual business practice to sell a building and continue occupancy of it but paying rent to the new owners.

Under the deal for the Steinway Hall, Steinway may remain in the building for 14-months rent free, plus an option for another 4 months at a fee. So, they are looking to move out before 18 months, although it's possible they will keep a small presence in the Hall.

Steinway owned the building, but they had sold the land many years ago. The land is now worth much more than the building. Between operating the Hall, and (presumably) paying increasingly expensive rent for the land, Steinway was losing millions of dollars each year. So keeping the Hall wasn't a realistic option.

Edited - off topic

Now it all makes sense. No wonder; in that case, it is sensible to sell the building when you don't own the land. It is interesting how they could structure that arrangement in commercial real estate. I guess in NY, it is possible to structure any deal in any arrangement as demonstrated by the derivative traders.

He certainly said all the right things. Maybe his sisters told him what to say.

I wonder what they think about their brother buying Steinway.

He told them it was because he wanted a Steinway B with a factory fitted player.

I sort of agree with Mr Marty here. There is clearly a huge loss but there is a lot of potential for net gain. The 57th st area where the Hall is now seems to be going residential. They would get a lot more exposure, say, on 5th avenue between the Plaza Hotel and Rockefeller Center, which is on the regular domestic and foreign tourist path. Also, best practices in retailing, including store layout concepts, have come a long way since the 57st Steinway Hall was designed. Steinway Hall NY is beautiful, but it can be taken to a better situation and place. Any number of possibilities exist, high quality listening room, etc.

best wishes-

Best wishes to Steinway Piano and crew.
John is just a beginner in his new position so perhaps allowed some slack for his statement in the above video:

" In my viewpoint, I , you, can't have to many Steinways. Ah, ya know, I don't view it as an expense. I view it as an investment, cause over time Steinways will increase in value."

Haha, who do you think you're talking to John !
Ya sure.... not much of an expense and a great investment. Is that why you bought all of them all at once?
haha

Very smooth , slick presentation overall ... to be expected from Steinway, and whoever turned out to be the new owner.

Best wishes to Steinway in your production of wonderful instruments and further innovations in instrument creation.

Your manipulative control of piano placement in performance halls , world stages and schools...
and overall indoctrination of Steinway's excellent superiority complex,
detracts from, rather than adds to perceived value , in my opinion.

All sounds very altruistic ! Very good for Steinway and all Steinway enthusiasts, but IF I could afford a Steinway or another piano equally expensive I'm not at all certain that Steinway would be my choice. The standard Steinway sound is not my favourite piano sound.
Nevertheless, I wish Steinway and its new owner well in the future!
rk

I found these lines from the video to be problematic. For him to suggest that the supply of Steinway pianos will always be pressured by demand, with the result of ever increasing marginal value for each Steinway piano in the world for the future (or at least during the rest of our lives), seems to assume a lot.


M.

That is a brilliant point.

Remember though that he is arguing for Steinway owners to hang on to their pianos (because of their increasing value as an investment) so that the number of used pianos coming on to the market will be severely reduced. They will become gold dust and new ones will become increasingly attractive as an investment. Add in the plan to increase global demand (through geographical coverage, enhanced product quality, and model/market strategy) and you have the stuff of Masters Dissertations if not PhD Theses.

The tone quality of some pianos, however high, can stand in the way of making a really personal and unique statement vs. the very clear and open tone of the earlier Steinways.

For comparison, Schnabel's recording of the Beethoven sonatas on one of those older and very spiritual sounding Bechsteins is very spiritual sounding. But Hofmann's Casimir Hall performance of Beethoven's Waldstein sonata on an older Steinway is both very spiritual and has the ultimate dark and profound power when needed - I am not sure the latter could have been made to emerge untrammeled through the Bechstein Schnabel used to record Beethoven's sonatas.


M.

Well, all I can say about this is that John Paulson’s dad couldn’t afford a new Steinway and I can’t either.

However, I have had my eye out for a good used one somewhere around $8K.

Rick

I watched the video for the second time and still can't get past the sister crying.

I'm still waiting for that dark green Alpha Romeo Spider. I'll even be nice to my brother.

I was a marketing consultant to Bechstein-America during the years that they operated on Piano Row. My services began a few months after the decision to open on Piano Row was made, and I remained involved for a little over two years. during that time I spent a great deal of my time with the sales force.

While I would agree that the impact of Steinway Hall as a facility was not THE deciding factor in Steinway sales there, it was, and continues to be a strong contributing factor. It "fit" as being a place where one could buy a unique piece of historic Americana, and it made competing with them all the more challenging.

On the other hand Marty rightly points out:

However, I don't equate it to the 'brand' that is Steinway. It is beautiful architecture, but I don't believe that sales will suffer because of a change in location or interior décor. We have no idea of how the new location will look. A surprise awaits us all.


Will they relocate to a different, but equally influential location? It certainly is possible, and I am sure that is their intent, but it will be very difficult to beat the impact of Steinway Hall.