There’s no type of promotion that can beat the upside of a great location. Piano Empire president and CEO Chris Vance has learned that much over the 18 years he helmed the original Piano Empire showroom in Santa Fe Springs, California, right off the 5 Freeway near Los Angeles. “Years ago we used to advertise in the newspaper and other media sources,” he says. “Today, I’d say we’ve always done better from freeway visibility.”
Vance saw that location, right across the border from Orange County, eventually succumb to state plans to expand the highway system, forcing Piano Empire to close up that shop and finally look for a new headquarters. They found a suitable – and larger – replacement in a vacant warehouse in Anaheim that offered 12,000 square feet of showroom space (more than double the size of the last location). The company and its staff – four full time and about four part time employees – opened its doors once again in February 2012 and has been working on improvements ever since. They celebrated with their network of wholesale customer dealers at this past Winter NAMM Show and threw a boisterous retail customer open house in March featuring a performance from Netherlands-based piano star Mariette Hehakaya.
There’s no type of promotion that can beat the upside of a great location. Piano Empire president and CEO Chris Vance has learned that much over the 18 years he helmed the original Piano Empire showroom in Santa Fe Springs, California, right off the 5 Freeway near Los Angeles. “Years ago we used to advertise in the newspaper and other media sources,” he says. “Today, I’d say we’ve always done better from freeway visibility.”
Maybe the best part of the new shop for Vance is location. Once again, Piano Empire finds itself on another highway (this time the 91, leading west to the coast and east to Riverside County). The sound of that road’s constant traffic is music to Vance’s ears. “People will continually drive past our store on the freeway and when the time comes that they decide to get a piano, they’ll remember where we are,” he says.
“That’s how the old store worked and it really paid off for us.”
Piano Empire has succeeded in the extremely competitive Southern California piano market thanks to a number of factors. Location is one, but Vance also weighs a gambler’s intuition heavily. “Everyone who owns their own business is something of a gambler,” he says. “Essentially, you must use common sense, but understand what your odds are and how the game is played.”
Vance began the company in 1991. He’d grown up working at Vance Music, the music retail shop in Bloomington, Indiana that his father owned. Bernie Vance ran Vance Music as a full-line instrument store for years and Chris Vance remembers watching him count guitar picks for hours while working on inventory. “Piano Empire is an extension of my father,” says Vance. “Without him, I won’t be where I am today.”
Vance Music is still in operation, though no longer a family business.
After college, he moved to California and decided to get into the piano business. It seemed more attractive from Vance’s point of view – there was more profit per sale and the inventory wasn’t as complicated as a typical MI business. But the market was competitive and foot traffic is hard to come by.
Originally a sole proprietorship called Piano and Keyboard Finders, the business’s specialty has always been building their inventory with the stock of struggling or bankrupt piano retailers (these days, the business is also finding a growing quantity of like-new pianos from private parties). Vance’s array of pianos picked up at bargain prices soon gave his store an advantage in a market where advantages are tough to come by. The shop also sells new Perzina pianos. In 2001, he incorporated the business as Piano Empire.
“There are a lot of piano stores here in Los Angeles and Orange County,” he says. “This is also the point of entry for many manufacturers.” The area is also home to many manufacturer and distributor headquarters, including Yamaha, Bösendorfer, Kawai, Young Chang, Weber, Kurzweil, and Perzina. “So that means that price points are very attractive from all the dealerships, maybe more than what you’d find throughout the rest of the country. If people are looking to buy a piano, that’s great for them.”
Vance says his prices are able to get new customers interested in wider varieties of instruments. “Selling a German or European-made piano at or near the price of a Japanese piano has made our store very popular with retail customers and teachers.” Additionally, the store has continued efforts to implement interactive and video devices like iPads and large-screen TVs to showcase QRS and PianoDisc products, offering a substantial selection of digital pianos from a variety manufacturers as well.
It’s not always easy starting over at a new location. Vance says the success built up at the old store was the result of years of highway visibility and hard-earned good will. “That took me about three years to build it up and make it a viable business,” he says.
“We’re certainly still in a building mode here, but I’m excited to watch this turn out to be a great store, as well.”
