The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-03-24


Ludden & Bates Southern Music House
to Discontinue Their Art and Sta
tionery Depar tment-Their Increas-
ing Piano and Organ and Music trade
Obliges Them to Have All Their
Ground Floor Space.
ANINTERvIEw WITH MR.. j. A. BATES.
Going the rounds of the leading business
houses our reporter called yesterday on Mr.. ia
Bates, treasurer Of Ludden & Bates Southern
Music House.
ut is rumored about town." said the re-
porter, that your house intends to discontinue
its Art Department. Is il truef"
Yes and no." replied Mr.. Bates, smiling
THE fact is that for several reasons we have
determined to discontinue the Art and sta
tionery business in Savannah.
May ask your reasons for this mover"
q ueried the reporter.
First" replied Mr. Bates. ''the growth of
our local Piano and Organ trade makes it abso-
lutely necessary for us to use our ground floor
as Piano salesroom. When we leased our
present stand it seemed TO US that the local
trade of the city in Pianos and Organs would
not warrant the rental of so large and expen-
sive e building, hence we added our Art and
Stationery Department, partly to fill the space
which we did not then need, and partly to make
our store attractive. But the surprising growth
OF our local Piano and Organ trade shows that
we were in error. Why, in the year just ended,
we have sold nearly twice as many instruments
absolutely forced to enlarge our show room to
meet the demands caused by our present ex-
traordinary offers to Piano buyers-offers that
are more liberal than those Of any house in this
Next. Our Music Department has deter
mined to still further increase its stock of fine
instruments for the growing local trade and to
go more extensively into importing and of job
bling musical Instruments and to enlarge its
publishing business. Hence, continued Mr.
Bates, valuable as the Art and Stationery De-
partment was to us, it was of secondary i'm
portance We have, therefore, decided to move
it out and devote the space it occupied, and our
entire energy. to the Musical trade first last
and all the time and shall try harder than
ever TO deserve the local patronage SO freely
and kindly given U.S."
But asked the reporter what will you do
with all this immense stock of Art and Fancy
Goodsy How will you ever dispose Of it p
Easily enough, said Mr.. Bates First. we
have sold out to Mr.. NJ. T. Taylor our stock of
ARTISTS MATERIALS, PICTURE HOLDINGS, PIcT-
URE FRAMES, ENGRAvINGs, etc, and he will oc-
cupy small space with US until Oct. !, unless
he can sooner find suitable quarters elsewhere.
Next, the remaining stock of STATIONERY and
FANCY GOODS will be taken at once by Mr. F. Z.
Macarthur to Knoxville. Tenn, where we shall
open under his management large PIANO and
ORGAN House, to which he will add the STA
TIoNERY and FANCY GOODS business. "
I'VE shall thus move out quickly the entire
stock and gain two most important ends; First,
the ground floor space 50 imperatively needed,
struments at most important business center
upon which we have long mad our eyes.
We'll, that certainly looks like good stroke
OF business but tell me, you cannot mean to
give up your magnificent Piano and Organ
Salesroom on your second fioor?"
mot bit OF it, replied Mr.. Bates. Eve shall
run that just the same. We couldn't put one
half our large stock of instruments on the
ground floor, nor would We if we could, as on
many accounts an upstairs warerooms is very
desirable We need that just as much as ever. "
AI1WnW4 hat fall f4VAr hat
must think the general business outlook en-
couragingy
Most assuredy, and not only encouraging,
but worth being enthusiastic over. Why should
we not enthuse when our sales for this year are
$4,000 over those OF any previous year. Savan-
nah is reaching out tremendously, and
will ere many years show population of 10O.-
600. That means a continually increasing de-
mand for Musical Instruments and Music, and
of this future trade we expect, of course, to get
our share as we have for The past twenty years. "